Come What May: A New Beginning
by Angelic Romance
Summary: The continuing story of Come What may. A lot of turns are going to take place. Will the right decisions be made?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own the characters, but the plot is mine. Hopefully everyone enjoys it. P.S, be sure to read my other story Come What May. It comes before this story. Here goes.

A few hundred miles away on the remote island, Pyro confronted Gambit. "And just what do you think you're doin'?" He demanded in his rough Australian accent as he released the flames from his portable propane machine. Gambit didn't know what to say. He stepped back from the panel and raised both of his hands in the air. "Listen my mah friend, ah don't want any trouble." Pryo came closer, "Well it looks to me like you're looking for it. I'd say you were trying to release the prisoner. But no worries mate, you'll soon be joining her after the boss hears about this. " he said forming the fire in the shape of Magneto.

Gambit withdrew his hands from the air and quickly threw a charged card in Pyro's direction. The sudden action caught Pryo by surprise and the card sliced off the left propane tube. Pyro flinched giving gambit the perfect opportunity to strike Pyro with his staff. The blow was hard enough to send Pyro sliding backwards on his back.

Pyro scrambled to his feet to try and defend himself. As Gambit was charging at him, Pyro used the right propane line to produce fire and shaped it into a snake. The fiery serpentine figure coiled itself around gambit, stopping him in his tracks. "Let's see you get outta this one." Pyro snapped.

Gambit looked above himself and extended his retractable staff. He charged the end of it and lunged it in the ceiling. The charged end of the stick forced a hole in the metallic substance. Pyro didn't know what to make of the situation.

The staff looked like a pole coming from above. Gambit grabbed the free end of the staff and swung over the fire; snatching the stick out as gravity pulled him downward. "Well ya asked how Gambit was gonna get outta that one!" Exclaimed the Cajun and then whipped Pyro across the face with his staff, knocking him out. "That's how ah was gonna get out of it."

he retracted his staff to it's average size and once again tried to free rogue. As he was typing in the code, a hard blow to the back of his head, knocked him out cold. Colossus only went back there to lock Forge away after he had done what he was told. Upon seeing the end of the scuffle from afar, Colossus ensued to ending the treason that Gambit was leading.

Forge wished he could undo his bindings and escape. But he knew he couldn't do that, so he had another trick up his sleeve. Of course the trick was too early to be performed. He had to wait at the right moment to pull it off. Colossus proceeded to lock Forge away in a glass prison similar to Rogue's. Colossus then stimulated a neural-paralysis gas to prohibit Forge from making a move. In other words, the gaseous solution petrified him.

Sabretooth and Magneto came to the same room shortly after. Sabretooth was the first to speak."What happened to Gambit?" Colossus sauntered over to the resat of them. Pyro was just regaining consciousness when the question was asked. He stood up and said in ail, "What do ya think happened 'ere mate? That bloody Cajun over there was tryin' to break loose the prisoner." He rubbed the back of his head.

Magneto glided over to an out-cold Gambit. "I see. But what drove him to rebelling against me? He knew what the consequences would be. Yet and still, he does so anyway." Magneto then turned towards Rogue. His speculations of Gambit releasing her brought him to the conclusion that Gambit might just fancy her. He raised a brow, cogitating on the state of affair between them. "Hmm." Was all he said. "Sabretooth, Pyro, get Gambit and put him with the others."

They did as he commanded. He continued, "And if any of you just as much as think about turning against me, the punishment for your rebellion will be far beyond apprehensive. Let that be a warning for all of you!" he ragingly enforced.

The intensity in his voice made all of them afraid to slip up one time. Magneto calmed himself before speaking again, "Now I'm going to send the brotherhood on another mission to confront the X men. This will be another decoy for you all to deliver, assemble, and secure the satellites around the seven continents.." Pyro interrupted, "-Ooh! Ohh! Let me take one to Australia. I've been wanting to see the good ole' Outback for ages!" he shouted eagerly. Magneto continued, "I was going to get to that John.

You will be going there anyway to lessen any suspicion. As for you Colossus, you will take one to Asia; Sabretooth with take one to Europe. I will be placing one in North America. Later, Colossus, you and Pyro and Sabretooth will meet back here and transport the remaining satellites to Antarctica, South America and Africa. Is everyone clear on what they should do?" He commanded. "Yes Sir!" They all said in unison. "Good. Then be off."

He used his powers to summon the satellites to the room. Once they were settle on the ground, he formed four spheres, bigger that the usual size. In each sphere, he place a satellite. Each of the antagonists entered their assigned spheres and jetted off to their designated continent. Magneto didn't take flight just yet. He had another obligation that needed to be fulfilled.

At the Brotherhood

The sun's rays filled the messy and destroyed house of Mystique. It was well pass 11 A.M and the members of the brotherhood were still lazily sprawled out in their beds. Since they were expelled from school, they had nothing else better to do but sleep the afternoon away. Pietro and Wanda were the only one's awake. Wanda aroused early because she takes life seriously; Pietro, because he was still bewildered about the path he was taking.

Wanda was downstairs emptying the rubble from the Kitchen while Pietro was in his room sitting on the edge of the bed, cogitating on his next move. He looked around himself and saw that he was engulfed in a huge mess. Clothes were flung everywhere, dresser drawers were halfway ajar; his bed was unmade and left over food was lingering hither and thither. For the first time in his life, things were a lot clearer. With that realization, he was crestfallen as he realized his complaisant attitude toward his father.

The things he said yesterday began to rebound loudly in his head. _I wanted this time to be different! _. It echoed like screaming inside a vacant reverberant chamber with no one there to hearken and console you of your agony.

Pietro clinched his fists and stood up slowly from the bed. He said to himself out loud. "If I want things to be different around here, then I'm going to have to make a difference." He used his new found speed to clean his room and begin a new life that didn't include fawning after his father. "Humph! Things are starting to look a little better in here." he grinned. But that emptiness in him was beginning to grow. He was undeniably stricken with the burden of doing the right thing. He dismissed the feelings even though he was exceptionally low.

He tried his hardest not to display the stress that crept its way on his face. He shook his head again. _Okay this isn't working. I need to clear my head. Maybe I need to go out for a minute and give myself __some time to sulk and then think about what to do later. _Pietro thought.

He raced downstairs only to find Wanda clearing out the kitchen. He became unnerved the moment he saw her. He was completely lost for words. Wanda on the other hand saw him and ignored him. Pietro tread softly over to the kitchen table. After a few moments of silence, he was able to muster enough courage to speak.

"Um...morning sis." He stammered out. Wanda seemed to be oblivious to his words. He tried again. "So...how are you feeling?" Wanda wasn't in the mood to talk to Pietro, but she had to say something to appease his desire for a conversation.

She turned towards him and then said, "I'm feeling fine Pietro." Pietro no longer felt like a derelict left behind by his sister. He wanted to talk to Wanda to ease the tension between them. He started by saying seriously, "Listen Wanda. You had a point last night. Maybe we do need to know what we're getting ourselves into before we act on it. That's why I took the liberty of going to find Magneto last night after we came home."

Wanda gaped at him. "Is that where you were? Looking for Magneto!" Pietro stood up from the table before answering her question. "Well, yeah." Wanda squinted her eyes shrewdly. "Did you find him?" She interrogated. "yeah! I did. And I found more than just him." he said discreetly. Wanda furrowed her brows. "What do you mean you found more than 'just him'?"

Pietro didn't feel too comfortable telling Wanda about their father's diabolical plans. So he covered it up. "You know, forget what I just said. It's nothing." He insisted. "It's not 'nothing' Pietro. I know when dealing with our father it's always something. Now tell me what did you find out!" She pressed hard. "Wanda, Wanda, calm down. I only heard half of his plans. I don't know the whole thing. I am completely clueless." he held his hands up in defense. He felt really bad about lying to his sister. He didn't want her to become just as worried as he was.

Wanda stopped pressing for an answer. "Fine then. Don't tell me. But that isn't going to stop me from finding out what's going on!" She stormed out of the kitchen. Pietro ran in front of her. "So do you forgive me for last night? I know I might have been a little out of line and lost my temper, but..." Wanda cut him off. "Yes Pietro. I do forgive you. But you have got to quit being so complaisant when it comes to our father." She moved him aside and continued walking toward the front door. _As if I didn't already figure that out. _Pietro thought rolling his eyes.

Before Wanda could place a foot outside, the phone rang. Pietro zoomed over to the phone and lifted it from the base. "Hello?" He asked. "I have a job for you and the brotherhood. I heard you didn't do too well in your last battle with the X men, so I'm giving you a chance of reparation. Remember Pietro, don't hold back." With that, the other end hung up. Pietro knew it was Magneto. His blood ran cold when Wanda questioned about the caller on the other end.

"So who was it?" She asked. "Um...it was no one." he replied quickly. Wanda was getting agitated with his spontaneous behavior. "Well it had to be someone! You were holding the phone to your ear for quite a long time!" she yelled. Pietro had no choice but to confess. "It was Magneto." He closed his eyes in disappointment. "Well what does he want?" "He wants us to engage in another battle with the Xavier kids." "Again! Why? Did he not hear about us losing?!" "Well, yeah he did." "Ugh! This is getting ridiculous. Why doesn't he just come to us in person and tell us for himself rather than hiding behind shadows?!"

Pietro knew well why Magneto wanted them to fight. They were never intended to win. All they were used for was pawns in his sick game of chess while the acolytes moved as the knights, bishops, and castles. Magneto of course was the king of the board. Pietro's unusual silence was beginning to irk Wanda. She cast a look of concern.

The silence was interrupted when they heard Todd and Freddy's loud, thumping footsteps racing for the staircase. "If you think you're going to beat me to the kitchen, then you're wrong big boy!" Todd teased. "Come back here Toad! I call dibs on the Muffins!" "No way! I'm not letting you gobble them all up again! Those muffins are for **everybody** yo! Not just **your-body**!" "Haha! Really funny!"

_Well it looks like they're up._ Pietro thought.

As Toad was hopping through the door frame of the kitchen, he was caught between the lattice and Blob's excess meat. "Blob!" He shrieked as he was being squeezed. "You're crushing me Yo! Back up! Back up!" Blob wasn't listening. He was trying to squeeze through to the kitchen to get to the muffins. He strained and broke a sweat. The more he forced himself in, the more Todd was getting crushed. Blob pushed and pushed until he forced himself inside. Toad fell to the ground gasping for air. "Aw man! Take my advice and never walk through the kitchen the same time as Fred! I'm gonna be bruised like a banana." Todd complained.

It wasn't before long when lance walked in the foyer and caught sight of Pietro. Even though Pietro regretted most of the things he said, he didn't regret showing Lance who was boss. Pietro stood where he was and glared right back at Lance. If electrons were floating about in the space between them, then lightning would have surely formed. "So Pietro" Lance started, "What does daddy want us to do this time?" Pietro didn't take what Lance said offensively since he was growing a prejudice for his father as well. "You know what Lancey boy, he does want us to do something. And you know what that is right?" "Let me guess, we have to fight the lame excuse for superheroes again." He rolled his eyes. Pietro reimbursed, "You got it! So let's do this." "Fine, but after we get something to eat."

"That's if Freddy saves something for us to eat!" Todd yelled from the kitchen while in the middle of tug-of-war with blob over the box of muffins.

"Alright fine. Eat up and then we go!" Pietro yelled. Wanda couldn't help but say something. "You know Pietro, a minute ago, you didn't look like you were up to doing this job. Now all of a sudden you're eager to go? What is wrong with you?! You've been acting weird all morning!" "It's just a lot of things that are going on right now. I can't really tell you because it's complicated alright!" He barked. He continued as he was heading toward the door. "Now I'm going to go get some fresh air while I wait for you sloths!" Pietro yelled to them.

"Yo, what's up with him?" Todd asked concerned. "Who knows and who cares." Lance declared. "Did you say something to make him mad again?" Todd asked. "If I did then good. He was always annoying. It's about time he had a taste of his own medicine. He's probably going to go run to daddy and tell him what I said."

"That's enough!" Wanda shouted. "Don't you get the feeling that something is really bothering him? I mean when he came downstairs earlier he looked kind of sad. Now he's upset? Maybe we ought to give him some elbow room. Give him some time to come to us and tell us what's on his mind." Wanda ended solemnly. Todd spoke up. "Do you think he developed that thing when you're one way one minute and then another way the next? I thinks it's called polar bear or something." He insinuated. "You mean, bipolar?" "Yeah that one! Thanks for having my back snookums." Wanda grimaced in disgust before speaking. "Whatever it is, I just hope he comes to his senses soon."

The instant she finished speaking, the phone rang. Pietro was just coming back in to ask what was taking so long. He zoomed over to the phone again and picked it up.


	2. Chapter 2

At the X Mansion

Earlier that morning, when the X students got up to get ready for school, Kitty was treading softly around her so-called roommate. When she aroused from her uncomfortable slumber, Kitty tried her hardest not to so much as even look at "Rogue". "Mornin' Kitty." Rogue said. "Yeah...um...morning, I guess." Kitty responded nervously. "What's wrong with you?" Mystique asked, having Rogue's personality down to a science. "Oh, like...nothing wrong. I just didn't sleep well last night." "Well if nothin's wrong, then get ready for school. Everybody is probably already ready to go. " "Okay like, just give me a sec."

Kitty stumbled out of bed trying to keep her nerves intact. She gave a timid smile and phased through the bedroom door and headed to the bathroom. Once she was in, she leaned her back up against the bathroom door. _Oh, Pietro said not to tell anyone that Mystique is posing as Rogue. But I can't take it anymore. If I don't let anyone know soon, I'm going to like, lose my mind._ She blew a long deep breath and washed up.

Once she finished, she headed downstairs to the dining area where everyone was having breakfast. She took a seat and observed everyone eating while they were involved in their own affairs. Breakfast seemed nice, so she figured she'd go ahead and have a few bites herself. But her appetite suddenly shrunk the moment she saw Rouge enter.

"Hey Rogue!" Bobby shouted. "Yeah what is it?" She responded. "We were all just talking about you. Last night, if it wasn't for you stealing Lance Alvers's power and using it on Wanda, then we'd probably be done for." He said enthusiastically Everyone else agreed in a mutter of 'yeahs' and nodding heads. Rogue simply smiled.

Kitty was sitting from afar repeating in her head, _That's not Rogue. That's not Rogue. That's not Rogue!_ Her thoughts were so loud that the professor and Jean were able to hear just the last part of her distressful mental yelp. Jean asked telepathically. _What do you mean 'That's not Rogue'? _Kitty felt awful that she allowed Jean to hear her. She redeemed herself quickly. _Well, what I meant was...Rogue...Rogue isn't like...you know, being herself. That's all._ She smiled a crooked smile. Jean raised a brow. _Alright if you say so._ Kitty spoke again before Jean ended the telepathic encounter. _Oh Jean, if you don't mind, could you like, let me keep my thoughts personal. _She smile sheepishly. Jean nodded her head with a pleasant grin.

"Alright everyone!" Scott announced as he stood at the edge of the lower part of the table. "If you're done eating, I suggest you all hurry to the car before I take off without you." Everyone stopped in the midst on their conversations and darted off toward the car. Kurt still had a piece of toast in his mouth as he ran for the door. Scott simply shook his head and caught up with the rest of them.

Kitty was in a hurry because she wanted to get as far away from Mystique as possible without revealing to everyone else that she was running from her. When they got out to the car, she made sure she didn't end up sitting next to her.

Scott started the engine, "Is everyone ready to go?" "Yeah!" They all said in unison. "Alright, make sure you're buckled up. That means you too Kurt." Scott pointed out. "Don't worry Scott, this time I am fastened to the seat." "Good." Scott replied as he started to drive off.

On the way to school, Rogue gave a suggestion, "Hey guys, how 'bout we go down to that abandoned construction site downtown after school, and have some fun? Ya know, get away from the house for a little while so we can use our powers freely without having so many rules around." Kurt was the first to agree. "Yes. Let's do that! I wouldn't mind teleporting all over the place. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't teleport in front of people. But I just can't help it"

Scott agreed as well. "That seems interesting. After all, the danger room is still under maintenance and I could use a little action right now." "That might not be a bad idea." Jean accepted in a matter of words. "What about you Kitty?" She asked.

"Who? Me? Well...it depends on how much work I'll have today and then I'll see." She said nervously. She crept a look over to Rogue and could clearly see a diabolical smirk spread across her face. Kitty didn't like the looks of it. She gulped and fiddled with her fingers. _I just can't like, blurt out that it might be a trap. But I don't want them to get hurt because I wouldn't...no, couldn't tell them. What am I going to do. Pietro, why did you ask me to keep silence on this?_ She cogitated all the way to school.

They had arrived right before the bell rung. As they were exiting the car, Rogue started speaking, "Ah'm gonna go ahead an' go to my class. Sorry if it doesn't seem like Ah'm gonna wait for ya." "That's okay Rogue," Jean said. "You go on ahead. I want to talk to Scott before school starts." "Thanks" After that, she ran into the school building.

Kitty wanted so badly to find out what Mystique was up to, but she didn't want to give herself away. "Kitty?" Scott called out to her. "Are you feeling okay? You don't look well." He said while scratching his head. "No! I'm fine. Really! I'm just worried about Rogue. You know, I think she has a crush on someone and I'm just trying to figure out who it is." She smiled bashfully. "Oh! Now I see why she was in such a hurry. Okay then. But if she wants to keep her crush a secret, there's no need to pry okay." Scott lectured. "Like, sure. No problem. I'll see you after school." She waved as she jogged into the school.

Jean walked beside Scott, "Well that explains why she was thinking so hard earlier." Said Jean. "You mean she's been thinking about Rogue's crush all day?" Scott inquired. "You know Kitty, she hates suspense." "Yeah I guess you're right. So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" "Well..." Before she could finish what she was about to say, the bell rung for the start of school. "I'll just have to tell you later okay." She said in a hurry. Scott scorned the bell that rung at the last minute. He then went ahead and ran for his class. It was his last year of high school, so he wouldn't have to be bothered with that accursed bell any more.

On the inside of the school, Kitty was getting her things from her locker albeit searching for Mystique. When she acquired her needed books, she gingerly searched the hall that was packed with students. Until at last she spotted a head full of dark brown hair with a white stripe. She had to squeeze between people and try to avoid getting her toes smashed by the ongoing traffic to get to the doppelganger.

By the time she was a few seconds away, she could see that she had just got off the phone with someone and placed the phone in her locker. Kitty was becoming more fretful by the minute. Every move she made and everything she said made Kitty's skin crawl and her hair stand up. She quickly walked away before she was discovered.

The bell rung signaling the start of class. For Kitty, it was her English class, so she hurried to her classroom as fast as she could. Kitty was only glad that she didn't share any classes with Rogue. But she was plagued with the thought of seeing her on the phone throughout her whole English lessons. _Who was she talking to? What is she planning next? How can I stop her before things get Worse?_ So many questions raced through her head. She only hoped she could make it through the day without losing her sanity.

After an hour of English class, the bell rung again. It didn't take long for the school halls to be occupied with children. They flowed from their classrooms like water in a conduit. There was laughter, cheers, complaints, and all other emotions that could be expressed out loud y the students of Bayville High. Except for one, quiet, dastard girl, Kitty Pryde.

She made her way to her locker. The stress on her face was beginning to show. She couldn't allow her friends to see her in that condition. She alluded faces that were au fait and successfully made it to her locker. When she opened it, she found a torn piece of paper inside. She knew she didn't leave it there so she picked it up and read it under her voice:

_Ask for a bathroom pass so you can excuse yourself from class. Meet me in the back of the school by the bleachers at the tracks as soon as you leave. Make sure you are not followed. Very important. Extremely _

_TOP SECRET!_

Kitty's heart was racing. _Oh no! What's if it's Mystique! Is this how they're going to capture me! Oh what do I do? How will anyone even find out that I'm gone?! _Kitty was about have an anxiety spell. She felt weak and dizzy as though she were about to faint. Her legs suddenly went numb. The world around her was spinning out of control. She was engulfed in confusion. _What should I do? Maybe I should just ignore it. But what if she suspects something. What if she finds out that I know she's not Rogue! _

Kitty was literally drowning in herself. She was mentally clawing for a way out. _Okay like, maybe I should go. Just to keep the suspicion low. And if she tries to abduct me, then I'll just phase, right?_ She was so consumed with her thoughts that the sound of the bell for second period snatched her out of her feverish reverie.

She quickly scooped her history books in her arms, as well as the note, and broke for her classroom before she was too tardy. Anxiety had overtaken her so much that it seemed to have cut off her equilibrium. For starters, she nearly tripped on herself trying to make it over to her desk. Then she dropped her books while trying to set them on the table. She was face with discombobulation as the teacher and the other students were staring at her as if they had never seen her before.

Her limbs were vibrating and she was beginning to perspire under her arms and neck. Her face was scarlet from the embarrassment. She only hoped that it would all blow over soon. She controlled her shaking knees as she sat down in front of her desk. The History teacher waited until she was fully settled in her seat before beginning the day's lesson.

Her classmate to her right was still staring. Kitty felt herself being watched. She eased her eyes over to the raven haired girl with braces in her mouth. "Are you okay?" asked her classmate quietly with a look of concern. "Yeah. I think." Kitty replied unsure. Both girls turned back to face the board. _So far __this has been like, the worst day of my life. _Kitty thought.

The teacher bade for everyone to turn to page 127. kitty did as was instructed. In doing so, she spotted the note she had retrieved from her locker not too long ago. She didn't want to argue with herself mentally for too long. While she was thinking on which action to take, she heard her name being called by Mr. Evans. "Yes ms. Pryde?" Kitty didn't realize that she had raised her hand upon mentally fighting with herself. _Oh great!_ She thought before she could sound. "Um, Like, can I go to the bathroom? I don't feel so good." "Sure. And if you need to go to the infirmary be sure to do so okay." He said generously. "Thanks." She said trying to make herself look and sound ghastly ill.

He handed her the hall pass. Once it was in her grasp, she hobbled out of the classroom and stuffed the note in her pocket. As soon as she was out in the vacant hall, she felt lonely and forgotten. _Is this how it feels when a person is abducted? Lost and misplaced? If it is, then I don't like it._ That certainty made Kitty promise herself that she wouldn't allow Mystique to capture her. If anything went wrong, then she'd fight her off and warn everyone of her fraudulence. Via Jean of course.

Feeling confident enough, she quickened her gait towards the back of the school. Since everyone was in class, no one could see her using her intangible powers. It was easier to phase through to the back of the building rather than walking the entire square foot of the school.

As she approached the bleachers, her guard increased. She flinched every time she heard even the slightest noise. She was so paranoid that her reflexes would react before her brain did. At the same time, all of the noises she was hearing was in her head. Her intense situation left her delusional.

Once again her reflexes acted according to its own will when she felt something touch her shoulder. "Hey Pryde-WHOA!" Yelled Pietro as he ducked from being hit by Kitty's fist. "Oops! Sorry. I'm like, not exactly in my right mind at the moment." she said horrified at her own actions. "Well who were you expecting?!" he shouted agitated. "I thought you might have been Mystique trying to lure me in a trap to capture me." She snubbed. "If you thought this was a trap, then why did you come back here?" Kitty stumbled."Because...because I...I." The question was ineffable. "Anyway," She continued. "Why didn't you like, leave your name on the note?" "I did. It's on the back." he said quickly.

Pietro to a minute to look around and saw that they were still out in the open. "Hold on a second Pryde we can't be seen out here together." he grabbed her hand and sped them under the bleachers. Now their meeting was fully secretive. "Like, warn me when you're about to do that." Kitty complained. "Whatever, just turn the paper over." He demanded.

Kitty took the note from her pocket and flipped it over to the back. She scanned the paper until she found his name on the lower left corner. "Oh!" She smiled an innocent smile. "So what's so important that you had to pull me from the middle of my lessons?" She asked while folding her arms. "Simple." He said before speaking dead serious. "I got a call from Mystique and my father. My father said that we were supposed to have another battle with you. My guess is that the acolytes are up to something if he needs us to act as a distraction again. Secondly, Mystique said that we should bombard you at an abandoned construction site downtown.

The plan is: Mystique is only going to pretend to combat us in the form of Rogue. She was going to get you to tag team up with her to take down Avalanche, which is actually a trap. Avalanche is supposed to look like he knocked her out and you would come to her aid. When you got close enough, she was going to induce you with a cellular paralysis bio-fluid. That will prevent you from doing anything. Even phasing.

She didn't tell me what she was going to do after that. But my guesses are: she was going to make it seem like the brotherhood abducted you and the X men would confront us. We begin another battle so Magneto can buy himself some more time. Right now I'm just speculating. I don't know If I'm right." He explained without once breaking eye contact with Kitty.

Kitty, who listened with undivided attention, asked a question, "Well let's just say for the sake of it that you are right. Like, how are you going to stop all of that from happening without them finding out that we know about their plans? And what will your father do to you if he finds out?" Kitty interrogated. Pietro truly didn't know what to say. "I don't know. But I already decided last night to go with the flow, come what may." "You know I thought the same thing. But being around Mystique is..." Pietro finished her sentence before she did. "just plain creepy. Makes your skin crawl. Makes you pray that you don't get on her bad side."

Kitty was amazed that he said every single word she was thinking. Almost as he was a telepath himself. "Yeah! that's exactly what I was gonna say. I'm going crazy just being around her. And being the only one to know that she's disguising herself as Rogue isn't exactly helping my anxiety. It makes me feel vulnerable. Like she can abduct me at any time and get away with it without anyone suspecting it was her." kitty started to break down in tears, "How long is it going to take? Why can't we just let everyone know what's going on? I'm so scared I'm losing it! If Wanda won't survive what's about to happen, then what are the odds of me surviving? I don't want to die, Pietro. I'm not ready to die!" she sobbed.

For the first time, Pietro had sympathy for her. At the same time, he knew if she was to break completely, then the whole point of them trying to protect their loved ones would cease to be a priority. He grabbed her tightly by the shoulders and yanked her closer to him. "Get a grip Pryde! If you lose it now, then everything that we're trying to do is going to go up in smoke.

We both have something we want to protect! If you fall, then we all fall! Don't you get it! They have Rogue! And if you show them any sign of you knowing the truth about what's happening, they could take her life right there! Is that what you want!? Besides, Mystique is crafty. Very manipulative. She gets to know her enemies to perceive a better copy of them. There's no doubt that she was studying you too!"

Kitty dropped her head with tears still rolling down her face. Pietro's hands moved from her shoulders to each side of her cheeks. He lifted her face upward to make eye contact. He continued. "If my father have even the slightest idea that we know of his plans, he'd surely come at you from another angle. And if you're caught, then What?! You heard what he said last night. You can't stop what you can't touch! So if he has you, then how will there be any hope for me to protect my sister? If you don't play it safe Katherine, then there's no point in trying to stop him.

Like he said, you guys fight with twice as much ambition when you're trying to prevent something. If he sees that ambition and you confront him head on, then it's game over. The same way he going to surprise us, is the same way we're going to surprise him! For now, we're just going to have to play it by ear. Do you understand?" Kitty nodded her head bleakly.

Kitty wiped the tears from her face. "Alright fine." She sniffled. "I won't say anything. But I was wondering..." she paused. "Yeah?" He asked curiously. She finished. "How did you know my full name was Katherine?"

"Ha!" he exclaimed then folded his arms. "that's easy. It was a while ago, when I was digging through some of the school files to get a sneak peak at my report card. The files were unorganized so some of the first names came first and some of the surnames came first. I looked under the 'P' section in case my first name came first, but guess what?" Kitty flustered, "You came across my last name." She said rolling her eyes. "Exactly! So I ceased the moment to see what **your** conduct was like, and there I saw it! Which made me wonder; how on earth do you get 'Kitty' from 'Katherine'?! I would at least expect something like Kathy, Katy, Kate, or maybe even Kat. But where in the world did Kitty come from?" he smiled teasingly. Kitty's demeanor changed into an annoyed feeling. "Look! It's just what everyone calls me! Like, maybe except for you!" she argued as she pointed her finger at him.

For some reason, Pietro enjoyed that. He knew she was entertaining, but never knew Kitty could be this entertaining. So he decided to give her some advice. "Oh! And for the record to ease some of the tension from being around Mystique, just let her overhear you saying: you found out that the bathroom fell through the kitchen at the brotherhood and that it's a total pig stye! Except my room though.." Pietro ended. Kitty gaped. "Are you like, serious? Did that really happen?"

Pietro raised a brow. "You know you say 'like' a lot. Do you have some kind of a speech impediment?" He questioned disregarding hers. "Answer my question!" She demanded. "Alright fine. Yes it's true." "How did that I happen?" "Come on Pryde, I have a giant living with me. Freddy's grown since then which means he got heavier. Haven't you noticed from yesterday?" "Oh! Well like, that makes sense."

"See! There's that 'like' again! Seriously do have to keep saying that?" "Leave my way of speaking alone Pietro!" "But really! You say it so much that I know I'm not the first person to ask." He said with furrowed brows. Kitty blushed and thought. _Actually you are the first person that ever asked._ "But anyway," He continued, "hurry up and get back to class before somebody suspect something." He commanded. He then sped off without warning.

Kitty hurried back to her class. When she got on the inside, she looked at the hall clock. _Whoa! Was I really talking to him for almost half an hour. That means..._ the bell rung for third period._ ...History class is over._ She finished anyway. She went back to her history class to return the pass. "Oh, ms. Pryde. Is everything alright? Your eyes are red." Asked Mr. Evan with concern. "Yeah, like I wasn't really feeling well so I went to the infirmary like you said." "Well I hope that you get better soon. Since you aren't feeling well, I'm going to excuse you from homework tonight." He said kindly.

Kitty was smiling brightly on the inside. "Thank you Mr. Evans." she said weakly, feigning her sickness again. She handed over the pass and went to her desk and gathered her books. Things were finally beginning to get better again.


	3. Chapter 3

Kitty walked back out to the hallway, crowded with other students. _I don't know any other way to put it, but talking to Pietro seemed to give me some kind of luck. First, I missed out on a boring lecture. Second, knowing what Mystique is planning makes me feel a whole lot better. And third, he totally saved me from getting extra homework tonight. Funny, I always thought Lance was supposed to be my savior. How did it end up becoming Pietro?_ Kitty re-framed at the last question to herself. _Pietro is my savior?_

The things that were happening around her didn't register to her yet. On her way to her locker, she encountered Jean. "Jean, Hi." "Hi kitty! Did you have any luck with finding out who Rogue's new crush was?" "Huh?" Kitty asked perplexed. "You know, Rogue's crush? Did you find out who it was?" Kitty looked from side to side in confusion. "Wwhy do you ask?" Kitty dragged the 'why'. "Because you look a lot less stressful than you did earlier. And you're talking again. I was beginning to worry about you myself." She explained. "You know, I did find out who her crush is." Kitty said despite the fact she had already known. "Really?! Who is it?!" Jean squealed with glee. "I can't tell you. Otherwise Scott will suspect me of committing illegal espionage. He told my not to Pry. Remember." "I know, but I'm just eager to find out who it is." "That will like, just have to...I mean, that will just have to wait." Kitty said recalling that fact Pietro told her she says 'like' a lot.

Kitty couldn't help but ask. "Um, Jean. Do you think I say the word 'like' a lot." She asked slightly solemn. "What do you mean? Even if you do, I haven't noticed it. Where is this coming from anyway?" Jean interrogated. Kitty's grim facial expression change to a more cordial one. "Oh! Nowhere. It's just that someone told me I say it a lot." "And who is this someone?" Jean displayed a quizzical brow. Kitty became flustered again. "Just...you know. Someone. Forget I asked. Like don't worry about it." She hurried away from Jean to get to her locker. Jean didn't know what to make of her erratic behavior. She didn't dawdle on the subject too long. She just went ahead and prepared for her History class.

Kitty ran over to her locker and took out her science text books. _Oh my gosh! How could I be so stupid! Telling Jean that someone told me I say like lot!_ _I'm such a dolt!_ She thought harshly. When she rallied her books, she saw Rogue a few lockers down, coming her way. _Remember Kitty, keep it together. Don't raise suspicion. _Kitty assured herself.

As Rogue approached her, her heart began to beat faster and faster. "Hi Kitty. How was class?" Rogue asked cordially. "You know. Same ole, same ole. Hey, I was wondering if we could all go the beach instead of like, going to some rusty, old construction site." "You know Ah only chose the construction site because it actually have things there we can practice with. Everyone else likes the idea." "I understand, but we've been in the danger room so many times in the last two weeks, I was just hoping for a break. You know, like, have some fun." "We can have fun later. Or then again, jus' think of it as fun." Rogue pressed.

Kitty was trying her best to convince Rogue that she didn't want to go to the construction site. Since that wasn't working, she changed her tactics. "You know what Rogue. You're right. It has a lot of stuff that **you** guys can practice with! As for me, I'm not going! I'm sick of practicing! I want to go to the mall, get my nails done, go swimming, and play in the sand! All of this study, study, study; practice, practice practice! It's getting on my nerves! I'm going to go home, do my homework, and I'm going to the beach! Even if I have to go by myself!"

Kitty's acting was very convincing. Rogue looked disappointed. "Alright fine. Do whateva' ya want. But it'll probably upset everyone else that ya won't be comin'." she frowned, folding her arms. "Well you know what." Kitty said putting her hands on her hips, "I don't care. I'm like, not worried about them right now. I'm worried about me. I didn't sleep well last night and I deserve to have a good time."

The bell rung. "This is like, the end of this conversation. I'll see you at lunch. '**Rogue'**" she said rogue hard. When kitty turned her back to her, Mystique frowned annoyed. She threw the books in the locker and snatched out some other kinds for her next class. "That insolent girl!" She raged out load and slammed the locker closed. "she's going to ruin everything. It looks like I'm going to have a change of plan." She said evilly shrewd.

At the Brotherhood

Pietro had become so much faster, it didn't take him long to reach the boarding house. He saw as Todd, Freddy, Lance, and Wanda were walking out the door and heading to the jeep. "Hey yo! There's Pietro!" Toad shouted. Everyone whirled round to see Pietro standing in the driveway. Toad hopped over to him, "Man, we were wondering where you were. Where'd you go? Did you bring something back for me? Did you clear your head? Did you go see a doctor to make sure you didn't have that polar bear problem?" He pestered.

Pietro pushed Todd away from him. He answered as he was doing so. "No! I didn't bring anything back. No! I didn't clear my head. Where I went is none of your business. And I don't have a polar bear problem! There aren't even any polar bears around here! Not even in the zoo! And why would I need to see a doctor about a polar bear anyway?!" he spoke rapidly. "Geez man. No need to get you undies tied in a knot! We were just worried about ya." "I was just out for 30 minutes Todd! Being around all of you guys is giving me a head ache." "Yo, you're starting to sound like Lance."

Pietro gave him a death glare. "Say what?!" Pietro held up his fist in an intimidating gesture. "Nothin'. No need to get all irrational." Todd crouched down cravenly. Pietro eased up. "I thought so." He said lowering his fist. He then ran over to the rest of them and left Todd there sighing in relief. "Whew! For a moment there, I thought I was done for." he hopped back as well.

Before anyone could ask any questions, Pietro explained with his eyes halfway closed, "If you wanna know where I've been, I was collecting stones and skipping them across a lake. So there. End of story." Wand sighed loud enough for Pietro to hear it. He looked over at her and saw how grim she was. Pietro was pensive for a moment and came up with an idea.

He took Wanda by the hand, "Hey Wanda, I need to talk to you for a sec." "What is it now Pietro. You've been acting so strange that Toad thinks you're bipolar." "I assure you my dear sister that I, Pietro Maximoff, am NOT bipolar." He spoke undoubtedly smooth. "Then why act so weird?" "It's a long story that I really can't tell you right now. But I have to say this; Wanda, if you don't want to fight anymore, then don't. Stay here if you want to okay. I understand now that we don't have to keep putting ourselves through this just to get Magneto's attention." he said like a true caring brother. But that characterization of him was the straw that broke the camel''s back.

"Okay pietro! What's going on really?!" Wanda snapped throwing Pietro's hand off of hers. "You get up this morning saying you found out about our father! First it seems like you don't want to take orders any more. Then you all of a sudden take the orders seriously! Now you're telling me I can stay! I've never seen you like this before!" Pietro stood tall and straight and placed his arms to his side. He walked closer to Wanda.

"Listen to me Wanda! I'm in charge of this place. And I make the decisions around here that **I **think is right! And right now, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place! Let me find a way out of this tight spot first! I'll only make the spot tighter if I tell you what's going on too soon."

Tears began emerging from his eyes. The sight of seeing her brother cry was enough to settle the anger that was building inside of her. Pietro continued, chocking on his woeful sounding words "You gotta let me figure this out Wanda! And you have to do what I say! You're going to get hurt if you don't. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you. There is more to this than meets the eye.

The pressure of it all is weighing down on me and I can't let you carry this burden. I'm acting so strange because I don't know what to do right now. I'm trying my best to get through this and I have to do it alone for now." Pietro's sadness was contagious, thus Wanda began to cry. "If whatever is bothering you so much, then why won't you let me help you? You don't have to go it alone. And what I can't grasp is, why do you feel the need to protect me from the X men." "Because I'm not protecting you from them. I'm protecting you from something else." He answered her question immediately. "What?" she said still sobbing. "What do you need to protect me from?"

All Pietro could do was hug her tightly. "Just stay here sis. Don't go anywhere alone okay. I know you can take care of yourself. But there are so many unpredictable situations that are going on right now so it's not safe to draw conclusions too early." saying so, he walked Wanda back in the house.

Freddy and Lance were just gawking at the siblings. "What a load of bologna!" Lance yelled. "Yeah. What was all that about?!" Freddy asked. Todd on the other hand was in the back, pouring over the heartfelt commotion. "That was... the most beautiful thing...I've ever seen. That was better than the time on One Love to Cherish when Nancy got sick and Drew confessed his love for her before she went on." he snorted the snot back in his nose before speaking again. "Any body have any bonbons?" He wiped the tears from his eyes. Lance and Freddy just stared at each other in disbelief. What to say about it, was ineffable.

Pietro walked Wanda in the living room. "I'm going to go ahead and go now alright. Stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can." Pietro said soothingly. "So, why are you going?" Wanda asked soft and slow. "If I don't, then I could mess everything up. In all honesty, I wish I could stay here."

They were brought out of their tête à tête by the ringing of the phone. Pietro picked it up and acknowledged the person on the other end. "Pietro. We have a change of plan. I'm going to let the Xavier kids go off to the construction site. Kitty will not be joining them since she insisted on going to the beach. I want you and your sister to meet there and wait for her arrival. Once she's there, have Wanda use her ability to halt Kitty's powers and I want you to move in and inject her with the bio-fluid. Come to Bayville high to retrieve the syringe from me after school hours. Am I clear?" "You got it!" he hung up the phone.

Wanda came closer to him, "What is it?" "Change of plans. Mystique just called off the attack. She said there was no need for it." Pietro lied. "I guess we don't have to worry after all." he said smiling. Wanda was a tidbit happier too. "Good. Because if this load of your is really dangerous, then I'm glad you don't have to face it right now." She smiled and gave him a hug.

Pietro begged to differ. _I wish I __**didn't**__ have to face it right now._ He thought gravely.

The Secret Lair

Pyro, Colossus, and Sabretooth successfully made it to their designated continents. They began setting up the satellites in the most remote places of the continents.

While they were off, Gambit regained consciousness and noted that he was in a cell. His hands were bound to the wall and so were his legs. He tried to break free, but that wasn't happening. He tried hard to figure a way out. Over yonder, he could see Rogue coming awake as well.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself latched to the wall. "Hey! Hey what's goin' on. How did ah get here!" She yelled trying to break free. "Cheré! Ovah here!" Gambit called out to her. Rogue followed his voice until she saw him as well. "Gambit! What am ah doin' here?" "It's a long story. A really long story." He answered. "Whateva', how do ah get outta here?" "Ya see that panel jus' below your cell?" Gambit pointed out. Rogue could only stick her neck out to see what he was talking about. "Yeah, ah see it." "Well that's how yah gonna get out. But with no one around to type in the code, then you're might as well stuck." "I'm not stayin' here!" Rogue shouted.

Remy was confused. "So how ya gonna get out Cheré?" Rogue thought for a while. "Ah think ah know how! Ah still have some of Avalanche's power from last night. Ah don't have much of it, but ah reckon it's enough to split that panel in half." She began to squeeze out the little bit of Avalanche's power. Remy watched in awe.

The ground began to shake. Enough turbulence went through the ground to force the rock from the cliff to puncture the metal and form a crack in the metal floor. The crack spread to the panel and split it in half.

The machine malfunctioned and it released Rogue from her bindings. "Nice work Cheré. Now could ya be kind enough to give me a hand?" Gambit asked smoothly. "Fine. But ah used the rest of Avalanche's power so ah don't know what else to do." "Simple. Ah know da code. Jus' punch in the numbuh's as ah call em' to ya." Gambit explained.

He gave her the code and she pushed in the numbers just as he bade her "So how is it that ya know the code?" Rogue asked. Gambit was set free. He was too ashamed to answer that question, so he alluded it. "Ah was wondering how ya was captured. Sure ya won't mind tellin' me right?" he smiled. Rogue sighed before going over her story.

It was after we fought the brotherhood of mutants. When they left, we went back inside to grab somethin' to eat, freshen up and get ready for bed.

Flashback:

All of the X men walked back inside and celebrated their nightly feat. "That was awesome!" Yelled Scott. "Yeah, especially when you nearly blasted us to oblivion." Jean said shrewdly, ending his fun. "Yeah. But it was better than being knocked out by a defected droid and not being able to see your victory."

"Really Scott!" Kitty exclaimed. "How could you like, be so obsessed with fighting? I'm beginning to think you're like, going to totally lose your nerve if the danger room doesn't get fixed soon." Kurt added, "I think he needs to relax. But I guess it's pretty impossible sense we've been trying to get him to forever." Kitty laughed. Much to Scott's disdain.

Rogue didn't join in on the conversation. She went to the kitchen to grab a snack. Since she was the only one present in the kitchen, she relished the moment to pull out the queen of hearts card from her pocket. She sighed a desolate sigh and bit into her peach while exiting the kitchen.

However, as she was leaving, she ran into Kitty at the door. "Staring at the card again?" Kitty asked with a look of suspicion. Rouge's heart started to beat faster. "Who me? Ah just wanted to make sure it didn't get all wrinkled up in our fight tonight." She rebutted. "Sure you did?" Kitty said in a sardonic way. "Fine, then don't believe me. Feel howeva' ya want." She waved her off and went pass her to proceed out of the kitchen.

"Alright fine." Kitty said, allowing Rogue's dishonest answer to slide. "I'm just gonna make me a sandwich and then head upstairs to take a shower. Like seriously, battling with a dysfunctional probe and then a battle with the brotherhood? I could like, really use one." "Question Kit." Rouge said. "How in the world can you eat horseradish on ya sandwich? That's disgusting!" "Is not! Like, you haven't even tried it." "Ah have and ah didn't like it." "That's too bad, you don't know what you're missing." Kitty spoke in a sing-song tone. "Believe me when ah say ah do."

Rogue left from the kitchen and went upstairs to her bedroom. She got her CD player and plugged her ears up with the earphones. She lied down on her bed and closed her eyes.

She shivered a bit when she felt a breeze in the room. When she opened her eyes, she came face to face with Sabretooth hovering over her. Before she could make a sound, he tranquilized her. In less than 5 seconds, she was out. He took up her body, sauntered over to the window, and jumped down. He rushed off with her through the thicket where the sphere was concealed. It levitated off the ground and then shot off like a speeding bullet.

End of flashback.


	4. Chapter 4

Gambit listened to every single word. "That's a mighty interesting story Cheré." he said with a smile. Rogue felt it was fair enough that Gambit answered her question since she answered his. "Alright Gambit, how did ya know the code for these cells if ya were trapped here yourself?" Gambit lowered his head, afraid of the reaction Rogue would give to his answer.

Well," He started off, "Ah was..." "Save it!" Rogue cut him off. She took the glove off of her hand and tapped the side of his face with her index finger. She didn't touch him for too long because she didn't want him to faint. She absorbed his memory and saw exactly what happened.

"You imbecile! You're working with magneto!" She shouted in anger. "Well ah was, but not anymore! Ah couldn't let ya get hurt Cheré." he said innocently. Rogue had to give him the benefit of the doubt since she did have his memory of speaking with Kitty and Pietro and him trying to rescue her. Then she had an instant rewind. _Kitty and Pietro! _She thought bewildered.

Rogue blinked rapidly. "Kitty and Pietro!" she reiterated out load this time. "Yes ah had a talk with em'. Ah was actually kind of surprised to see em' here with each other." Gambit explained. "They were here?! Together?!" Rogue shouted.

Gambit gathered some sense. "I would love to answer your question right now, but we gotta get a move on before da' others come back." Gambit grabbed his staff that was left inside of the cell he was in. While he was there, Rogue stopped in front of another glass cell. Inside, she saw and recognized the boy.

Gambit saw as Rogue was attracted to the person inside. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ya know who dis' is?" He inquired. "Yeah ah do. His name is Forge. Ah found this secret lab unda' the school basement While ah was in there, I stumbled across a contraption that was in there. Ah didn't know what it was until Kurt showed up and ah accidentally sent him to anotha' dimension with it." "Ya don't say." Gambit said with intrigue.

"So why is he here?" Rogue asked. "Magneto heard about him and forced him to build some machines to help Magneto reform the world." Gambit the spoke on a recurring situation. "But seriously Cheré, we have to move." "If Magneto needs him for his evil plans, then we need to get him outta here." Rogue commanded.

Before Gambit could say anything, Rogue used the kinetic energy she managed to steal from Gambit a few minutes earlier. She fried the control panel similar to the panel on her cell. Although the cell was opened, Forge was still affected by the neural-paralysis gas. Gambit hauled him over his shoulders and the two made a break for it.

Gambit knew his way around the lair, so it wasn't hard to escape. The only thing Gambit was worried about, was the other members of the acolytes showing up. While they were running out, Forge came to.

His groaning alerted them. Gambit lowered him from his shoulders. Forge stood weakly holding his throbbing head.

Rogue took action. "Hey you! Remember me?" She asked roughly. Forge was too dizzy to really think straight. But Rogue's make up was enough to identify her. "Yeah. I think so. You're Rogue. Right?" "Good so ya remember. Do ya have any idea how to get off of this island?"

Forged looked around straining to make out his surroundings. "I guess if I move fast enough, I could forge a boat out of that table over there. And maybe some few other pieces of metal." Gambit spoke up. "How long will it take for those satellites of yours to be put together?" "It depends. But I'd say like half an hour to make sure the other satellites are aligned accurately." "Then dat should give us plenty of time." Gambit went over to the table and kicked it over. Forge welding immediately and as fast as possible.

Just about 25 minutes later, they completed the boat. Forge was impressed with his timing. "Now the thing is getting it out there on the beach " Said Forge wiping the sweat from his head. Rogue and Gambit had an idea.

They walked out to the tunnel where the metallic spheres enter. It led out to the edge of the cliff. The entrance door was round so Gambit drew a circle of kinetic energy on the edges. "Alright everybody. Stand back!" Gambit yielded to them. The door blew off, landing face down on the inside of the tunnel. "Now jus' load the boat on and we're home free." Gambit said brightly.

The base of the cliff jutted out, so they were able to use the round piece of metal as a sled to slide all the way down to the beach. It was bumpy, but it proved to be amusing to Gambit and Rogue. Forge was holding back the urge to regurgitate.

The second they touched the sand, was the second they jumped off and moved the boat into the water. "Ya know ah have to say it's a good thing that Magneto uses metal." Rogue exclaimed. "Good point Cheré." Gambit complimented.

They climbed in the boat and headed for home. Rogue was unsure about one thing. "How do ya know which way home is?" Forge had an answer. "When Magneto was forcing me to build the satellites and telling him where to put them, I was able to locate where we were and the coordinates to make it back. That's how I tried to escape the first time."

"So about the satellites. Even if he would have succeeded in his plans, was there a way to stop it?" Rogue asked. "Actually yeah. You see, I installed a hidden panel at the base of the machine used to collect power from two mutants. I designed it with high molecular density to become unaffected by intangibility. If you press the reset button, the machine will power down and then self destruct within ten minutes." "Well that's hopeful." Rogue said with a bit of relief.

The X Men

School was out, and kids were running out of the school by the dozens. Scott couldn't wait to go down to the derelict construction site. "Surely Logan would understand if we dodge target practice for today." He said to himself as he was walking out to his car.

Jean and Rogue were already there, waiting. "Hey Scott!" Jean called out to him. "Hi Jean. I see everyone isn't here yet. Where's Kurt and Kitty?" "They didn't come out yet. They're probably off goofing around or something." Jean insinuated. "Well if they are, then they need to hurry up." Scott said, becoming a little impatient.

Mystique was standing there in the form of Rogue. She thought to herself. _I'm just happy with the fact that I discovered just how competitive Summers is from my last infiltration at the mansion. It makes this whole thing so much easier. Using his own obsession against him._ She was stirred from her thoughts when Kurt and Kitty came over.

"Hi guys!" Kitty yelled. "Like, I'm going to go home with Kurt. I want to hurry up and finish my assignments so I can go to the beach." Kurt added, "Yes! And I'm going too. Sorry Rogue, but Kätzchen is right. We do need a real break. And maybe afterward I can finally go out on a date with Amanda!" He ended happily.

Mystique didn't like the sudden change at all. Kitty could see the uneasy look on her face and quickly said, "Hey guys! Did you like, hear that the bathroom like totally fell through the kitchen at the brotherhood?!" Mystique jolted in a complete shock and began to boil underneath. Kitty saw her express change and then thought to herself. _Looks like I got under your skin this time._

Jean, Scott and Kurt had their mouths ajar. Jean spoke first. "Seriously! How did you hear about that?" The question caught Kitty of guard. _Uh oh, I didn't think about that!_ She panicked. She was trying to conjure an explanation as quick as possible. "I..uh, called Wanda last night to thank her again. Yeah that's right. And...I like, asked how she was doing and she told me what happened." She smiled sheepishly.

While everyone was captivated by Kitty's explanation, Mystique managed to slip away. When she was far enough, she blew off some steam. "Ooh! Those irresponsible delinquents! Can they stay in my house for one day and not tear it apart! As soon as I get back, I'm going to have their heads!" She was soon interrupted as Pietro zoomed in front of her.

"Alright Mystique hand over the stuff so I can get back." He demanded. Mystique grabbed Pietro by the collar and yanked him down toward her face. "I just heard that you and your bum friends just wrecked my house!" She screamed at him. Deep down inside, Pietro was trying so hard not to laugh. His face was turning pure red trying to suppress the laughter. "When you get through dealing with Pryde, I'm going to deal with you!" She screamed at him.

Pietro was losing his battle with himself so he unloosened Mystique's grip and then said, "Um, Mystique. Could you hold on to that thought, I have to go somewhere right now. But I'll be back before you know it." He ran off as soon as he finished what he had to say. Mystique just put her hands on her hips, waiting for him to return.

Pietro ran down the block from the school and became drunk with laughter. He was laughing so hard that it appeared as though he had lost his mind. After all that's been happening that day, a good laugh was all he needed to cheer him up.

Mystique didn't have to wait much longer as Pietro had come back. "Sorry about the sudden dismissal but I left the tea kettle on." he lied. "So where's the syringe?" he said in a cheery voice. She reached into her pocket and gave it to him. "Remember what I told you. This is something you cannot fail!" she said strictly. "No problem. The idea seems easy enough." Pietro put the syringe in his pocket and darted away. Mystique then made her way back over to the group.

Scott called to her. "Hey Rogue! Where did you get off to?" "Oh, nowhere important." She replied and got in the back of the car.

Jean pulled Scott to the side and whispered in his ear. "I have an idea of where she was. She probably went off to have a secret meeting with her secret sweetheart." "I didn't think of that. Maybe she did." Scott agreed.

Kurt and Kitty had already left. When they teleported to the mansion, Kitty ran upstairs as fast as she could. Kurt saw her as she anxiously climbed the steps. "Kitty are you okay? You seem to be in such a hurry!" "Huh?" She said pausing halfway up the stairs. "Like, I'm just trying to get my work done so we can go to the beach faster. And maybe I'll invite Amara, Jubilee and Bobby." "That sounds like a good idea. I guess I should hurry and do mine too!" He said before disappeared, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

kitty breathed a sigh of relief and continued up to her room. When she got there, she threw her backpack on the floor and ran to her cell phone that was lying on the dresser. She dialed a number as fast as possible. _Thank goodness Lance gave me this number._ She said to herself.

The line was ringing for a while until someone picked up on the other end. "Hello?" Answered Lance. Kitty was a bit disappointed. "Hi Lance." "Kitty is that you?" "Yeah, like who else would it be?" she said in a duh tone. "I don't know. It's just that we've been getting a lot of phone calls lately. So how are you?" "I'm fine. Listen, is Pietro there?"

Lance was surprised she asked that question. "Why do you want to know if Pietro's here?" She began to speak on the first thing that came to mind. "I just uh,...wanted to yell at him for the things he said to me last night. That's all." "You called just to yell at him?" Lance said in disbelief. "Well you know, I just wanted to blow off some steam and I figured that I'd get back at him. He made me so angry that I couldn't even concentrate at school. And he made me feel terrible when he called you a dope to my face." Kitty knew that would tick Lance off. "He called me a what?!" "Don't worry about it Lance, I'll take care of him, just put him on the phone please." She said nicely.

Lance calmed down before speaking again. "Well I wish I could, but he stepped out a few minutes ago." Just as he said that, Pietro walked in. "You know what, never-mind, he's back. And Kitty, when you grill him, don't hold back." "Believe me I won't!" She shouted.

Lance walked over to Pietro with a look of anger on his face. "Telephone Pietro!" he said roughly while shooting him an unpleasant look. Pietro returned the facial expression before walking over to the phone.

"Hello?" he started. "Hi Pietro, I have some serious news." "Sure spill it." "You know we were supposed to be going to the construction site right? Well..." Pietro cut her off. "You told Mystique that you wanted to go to the beach? Yeah I know, she told me. She was going to have Wanda and me ambush you there. But I got Wanda to understand that she doesn't have to fight anymore. So everything seems to be working out fine. Mystique has no idea that you know who she is. Which means you didn't break under pressure. But I have to say that I did doubt you for a moment." He said diabolically. "You jerk! Well I guess that shows you that Kitty Pryde doesn't give up!" She screamed. Obviously offended by his words.

"Pipe down Pryde. Where are you any way?" He asked seriously. "I'm in my room. Why?" She asked curiously. Pietro didn't answer. "Hello? Hello? Pietro?" She heard the line go dead. She hung up the phone and smacked it on her dresser. Soon afterward, she got a knock on her door. She walked over and opened it,

"Pietro!" Kitty shouted surprised to see him. "Shh! Keep it down!" he beckoned. He closed the door behind himself. "Alright Pryde. This is the stuff I was talking about." He said while going into his pocket pulling out the syringe. "Mystique gave this to me in hopes that I'd use it on you. But I have a better idea on how to use this." he ended with a sinister tone.


	5. Chapter 5

Just as Pietro was about to explain his idea, Kurt poofed in the room. "Hey Kitty I was going to ask you...Ahh!" He shrieked upon seeing Pietro. He stood in a combat position, ready to fight the silver-haired boy.

Kitty jumped in the way. "Kurt don't!" She yelled. "He's not here to fight!" "Kitty! Why are you here with that kein gutes schwein!" Pietro got offended by what Kurt said. "Hey! Who are you calling a no good pig?"

Both Kitty and Kurt were surprised. Kurt started off. "You understood me?!" "You understood him!" Kitty followed up immediately.

Pietro just folded his arms and stood tall with his nose in the air. "Of course I did. My father is German. Sometimes he mumbles stuff in German so I learned to speak the language years ago so I could understand what he was saying." "How come we never heard you speak it before?" Kurt asked. "Because I didn't have the need to. And why do I owe you an explanation anyway?" He yelled.

Kurt was in a disarray. "So if you're not here to fight, then why are you here?" Kitty answered for him. "I have a confession to make. You see Kurt, after our battle last night with the brotherhood, Pietro sort of like, came over." Kurt was now full of perplexity. "Why would Pietro need to come back?"

Pietro spoke up for himself. "Listen blue boy, I really didn't want anyone to find out about what was going on so you're just going to have to wait just like everyone else." "What are you up to?" Kurt demanded to know. "I'm not '**up**'to anything! Now if you don't mind, Katherine and I have something very crucial to discuss." "Katherine? Who's Katherine?" Kurt asked confused. Pietro gaped. "Are you kidding me! You mean to tell me you live in the same house as her and you don't even know that Pryde's full name is Katherine?! Unbelievable!" "Well she never told anyone." Kurt confessed.

Kurt caught sight of the syringe in Pietro's hand. "Kitty! Watch out he has a needle!" He panicked while grabbing her hand. "No! Kurt! It's not what it looks like!" Kitty shouted and then phased through Kurt's hand. "What do you mean it's not what it looks like! I think he's trying to trick you so he can inject you with something!" "KURT!" Kitty yelled fed up with his anxiety yet flattered by his protection of her. "He's not here to use that thing on me!"

"You see, that is exactly why I didn't choose you to help me find out what Magneto was up to!" Pietro intervened. Referring to Kurt's irrational behavior. "What do you mean?" Kurt asked. Pietro slapped his forehead with his palm. "Great!" he said after doing so. Pietro cleared his throat again. "Listen my little blue fiend, I can't exactly tell you what's happening right now. But I will say this. Katherine and I are trying to prevent something very big and evil from happening. So far we managed to postpone two events that was supposed to happen. Right now, we're partners in crime and after all of this is over, we can get back with our lives, got it?"

Kurt was scratching his head. Kitty knew Kurt wasn't going to leave without a clear statement. "Pietro, why don't we just tell him. We'll just keep it between us." She suggested. Pietro places his fists on his hips. "Why would you want to do that?" Pietro asked calmly. "Because he's a friend and I think it's about time that we tell someone." "That may be, but I think you're trusting the wrong person here."

"Hello, I'm still here." Kurt acknowledged himself. Pietro gave in because he needed to tell Kitty his other plans for the needle. Pietro and Kitty went over the whole story, though Pietro was reluctant.

After they finished telling their wild adventure, Kurt was in wide-eyed wonder. "You mean to tell me that Rogue was Mystique this whole time!" Kurt yelled. Pietro placed a hand over his mouth, "Shh! Keep it down." he spoke a little above a whisper. Kurt continued speaking while facing Kitty, "So what are you going to do now?" Pietro stood up straighter. "I was just about to get to that." Pietro said before clearing his throat. "Now as I was saying, before blue boy over there showed up, I have a better idea for this syringe. After we figure out a way to rescue Rogue, we're going to alert everyone about this situation. If my father has no hostage, then he has no leverage. Right?"

Kitty and Kurt nodded. "Good." Pietro continued. "All we have to do is go back, save Rogue, sabotage the machine, grab the blueprint so Magneto can become oblivious on what do do; bring Rogue back here and hide her. Use this syringe on Mystique, alert everyone, have Rogue pretend that's she's Mystique and lure Magneto out here, and then BAM! Magneto would be helplessly cornered. And he wouldn't know what hit him!"

Kurt began to connect the dots in his head. "Oh! Now I see why you didn't tell anyone. They'd give themselves away too early and you wouldn't be able to trick your father!" "Now you're talkin!" Pietro exclaimed.

Kitty was impressed. "So like, when did you come up with this?" "Well I couldn't have done it without you Pryde. If you would have gone to that construction site, then this baby here wouldn't be in my hands." "So what are you going to do if Mystique finds out you didn't use the syringe on me?" Kitty inquired. "That's the point! She won't find out. I just need you to play possum. Let her believe that you were injected, and then we got her. But we need to rescue Rogue in order for any of this can be done."

Kitty raised a brow, "But Pietro, you said it yourself that if we took them from that hidden lair that Magneto would get suspicious. You know like, somebody must have knew what he was up to in order for them to be saved, right?" "I know. That's why we're going to make it look like they broke out."

Kurt made a suggestion, "Ooh! Maybe I can teleport us there. Get them out and then be back." Pietro folded his arms, "If I'm not mistaken, aren't you allowed to go places as long as you know where you're going?" "Yes, that's true." "Well then you're out of luck because that island we were on, is remote." "Perhaps you could show me a map." Pietro threw his fists back on his hips, "What part of 'remote' don't you understand?! It's not on a map!" "Oh. Right."

Kitty saw Kurt looking a bit down. "Well hey, at least he tried okay. It wasn't a really bad idea, it's just that he doesn't know where to go." Kitty said, cheering Kurt up a bit. "Yeah whatever, but we have to get a move on." Pietro stated getting a bit impatient.

"But first!" Kurt shouted. "I'm hungry and I want to get something to eat." "Me too." Added Kitty. She walked out the door and headed to the kitchen.

Kurt looked back at Pietro before walking out the door. "Would you like something back?" "Nah. I'm fine. I'm just gonna go back to the brotherhood while I wait." "Please! You can wait downstairs with us." Kurt said, not really wanting Pietro to leave. "Why would you want me to stay?" Pietro asked feeling a bit weird. "Because." Kurt said, "If we're going to do this together, then I think we should know a little more about each other."

Pietro raised a brow. "You don't want me to leave, do you?" Pietro said with a sardonic grin. "Well, it's kind of nice having you here as a friend and not an enemy." Kurt smiled. "You do know I just agreed to this because I want to save my sister, right?" "Of course. But it feels great that you can trust us to help you. Which make me wonder; how come you didn't tell your friends at the brotherhood?" "Because they don't know how to do anything right! When was the last time we ever won a battle? And I don't mean the time at the mall because it was all Wanda."

Kurt was pensive for a moment. "Well...you have a point." "I'm glad you see it my way." Pietro said with a smile. Kurt reverted back to a previous subject. "But really, come downstairs with us and get something to eat. You'll need the energy." Pietro frowned. "You do know that there are other people down there right?" "You mean the others?" "Who do you think I'm talking about?" Pietro asked becoming irritated. "Well just stay here, I'll bring you something back." Kurt poofed away.

Pietro thought to himself, _This is what you get when you're too nice to people. _

When Kitty and Kurt got downstairs, they greeted the rest of the X members who had just arrived no more than two minutes ago.

The Trip

The nuclear solution Forge used to power the boat got them far at a fast rate. The best thing about the island was it wasn't too far from the United States. Rogue broke the silence that was hanging overhead, "So can ya tell me how Magneto was goin' to use this stuff?" She asked Forge. "The mutant gene has an abnormality in the DNA code. Also called an X gene. If you radiate the nuclear solution and point it toward a mutant, the radiation wave will coincide with the gene to either enhance or deplete their powers. You see, we don't work like other people. Because we already have an abnormality, it won't affect us. But if it's used on humans, then their normal DNA cells will become abnormal. Because they don't have an X gene, they either mutate or don't survive at all."

Gambit interrupted the conversation, "Ya'll better quicken up the chatterin' because we're comin' up on land." Gambit steered into a boat yard with tons of other boats on the docks of New York. As soon as they sailed to land, they hopped off and began looking for transportation. "This is my queue." Gambit said cracking his fingers as he spotted a motorcycle.

Forge would have liked to tag along, but he decided to go his separate ways. "Gee, thanks guys for the save. But I have to be on my way. And rogue, tell everyone back at the institute that I said hi." He said and then walked away, waving at Gambit and Rogue.

Gambit looked at Rogue in a caressing gaze. "Well Cherè, it looks like it's jus' you an' me now." "Then let's get goin'" Rogue said while putting her hands on her hips. They waited until the coast was clear. When the owner of the Motorcycle turned his back, Rogue and Gambit salvaged the opportunity to jump on and ride off with it. Gambit was the one who was driving.

He was going at a high speed to make it to where they had to be. Rogue was the one giving him directions to the mansion. "Ya know Rogue, you and ah make good embezzlement partners." "Don't even think about it Gambit! This was a one time deal, so don't expect me to be doin' this again any time soon." "Sounds to me like there's gonna be some other time." "Stop picking my words apart! Now turn right." Rogue shouted to him. "Whateva' you say Cherè."

"Shouldn't Magneto's guys be back at that island by now?" Rogue asked. "Ah would reckon so. But Ah'm glad we aren't there to see the looks on their faces." They continued at break speed as they headed for the mansion. At the speed they were going, they would end up there in no time.

At the Lair

The remaining Acolytes had returned to see a very distraught and aggravated Magneto. "No! How could this happen?! First Gambit decides to betray me and now they have escaped!" He yelled while banging his fists on the wall. He was so enraged that the others only dared to get close to him.

Sabretooth wanted to know what happened as well, so he managed to utter his question. "So, how did they escape?" Magneto whirled around to the group and gritted his teeth. His eyes filled with an intense disturbance. He asked while yelling to the top of his lungs, "Did any of you have anything to do with them escaping?! Sabretooth! You were responsible for locking up Rogue! And you, Colossus was responsible for locking away Forge and Gambit!" Magneto was being irrational.

Colossus and Sabretooth put on an innocent look and held their hands up in defense. Colossus bravely started off. "I had nothing to do with it. I do exactly as you say." Magneto didn't have an inkling of trust for them since Gambit. Magneto squinted his eyes in a shrewd manner before rebutting against Colossus's statement. "Fine, but there's only one way to find out."

Magneto used his powers to grab some of the torn metal from Rogue's cell and wrapped his cohorts in it; he brought them to the main control room. The table was no longer there and most of everything in that room was destroyed. He brought them over and stood them next to the computer then released them from the metal. Magneto began to type in codes which allowed him to bring forth the security system. "These videos from the surveillance will help me determine who helped in their escape. Whomever it is, they shall feel my inscrutable wrath!"

As he was fast-forwarding through the video, he saw as Gambit entered the room where the prisoners were held. As it continued on, he saw a flash of unmistakeable white hair. He stopped the video from fast-forwarding and set it to rewind. He played it and saw his son, Pietro walk into the room. Magneto furrowed his brows trying to decrypt the the situation. The other Acolytes were struck with confusion as well.

Magneto watched from beginning to end of the secret affair. Magneto became just as furious and furious still still as each second of the video played. When it ended, he smashed the computer controls. "Pietro! Why?! Why would you betray me?!" He shouted. "You've ruined my plans! Now you've forced me to do this the hard way." He said low and formidably horrendous.

As he began gliding out, he was halted by Pyro's question. "So do you still want us to spread the satellites?" "Of course. And do it quickly. I have a visit to make." With that he exited the lair. The main questions Magneto had on his mind was: 'How did Pietro find him? And why was he there with a member of the X men?' He entered into his sphere and headed towards New York. "He'll pay dearly for under-minding me." Magneto said to himself out loud.

Back at the Mansion

Kurt and Kitty were in the kitchen with everyone else, eating. When Kurt saw Rogue come in, he began to fumble. He was eating his burger weakly while staring at Rogue, who he now know is Mystique. Kitty bumped his shoulder with hers. When she got his attention she whispered. "Like, don't stare. You'll give us away. Just act natural." "I'm trying, but Mystique is just sheer evil." He whispered back. "Well don't think about that now. I know it's not going to be easy, but believe me when I tell you I felt the same way." Kitty explained. Kurt nodded in agreement and finished eating his burger.

Bobby and Jubilee were discombobulated on whether to go to the beach with Kitty and Kurt, or to the construction site With Rogue, Scott and Jean. "Hurry up and make up ya minds already." Rogue yelled. Bobby said with an obvious confused expression. "I'm trying to. But this decision is hard because I want to practice and prove myself and to everyone else that I can get through rigorous training without being the first one to be eliminated.

But then there's going to the beach, having fun, and not worrying about this kind of stuff. So I think I'm going to spend some time at the site and then head over to the beach. Or maybe the beach first and then the site." He said, still indecisive. Rogue summed it up for him frustratedly. "How 'bout ya go to the site first and then relax later."

Bobby put his index and thumb to his lips and cogitated. "You have a point Rogue. I'll go the the site and then to the beach." He repeated after her with a better attitude. Rogue just smacked her palm against her face.

Jean said she was kind of stuck on the same situation as Bobby. But doing target practice with Logan was enough for her to vote on going to the site as well. Jubilee agreed and then said, "That way I can work on this new technique I've been practicing. And I can perfect my Jubilation attack. I couldn't wait to try that out in the danger room. Sadly, the danger room is busted and luckily we have Rogue to make a good suggestion."

Kurt and Kitty were the only ones who begged to differ. Kitty made sure no one was looking when she whispered in Kurt's ear, "Is Pietro still upstairs?" "I asked him to stay, but I don't know if he's up there." "Could you check for me?" "Sure. Be right back." Kurt poofed away.

Just as he left, the others turned their attention to Kitty. Jean started off. "Kitty? How come you don't want to go. It'll be good training. After all, do you want to stay here with Logan doing target practice?" Kitty's face turned red, then she looked at Rogue. She broke her stare by glancing back at the others. "Um, I want to have some time to relax you know. Besides, I have a ton of homework to do. So I don't want to slow you all down. You go on ahead."

Scott came forward to exchange a few words. "Well if you have time to go to the beach, Don't you think you can swap just for today? The rest of us will be working on our skills and we'd be happy if you'd join us."

Kitty raised a brow. "You know, I believe most of you want to practice because you like, got humiliated by losing to a mindless machine. And what better to make yourself feel better than by going to some old construction site to give yourselves some kind of reassurance. Well, I don't need to reassure myself because I didn't lose to a probe." she crossed her arms.

Kurt poofed back in the midst of the conversation. When he was back in his seat, he saw that everyone was starring at Kitty. "What did I miss?"

No one heeded Kurt's question. Jean didn't understand Kitty's outburst. "Kitty? Why are you acting so erratic? We all have our opinions about why we want to do things, but you just can't put other people down because you disagree." Jean sorted out. "Well everyone around here keeps like, bugging me and asking me to go to the construction site. No matter how many times I say no, everyone just keeps asking. Why are you guys so persistent?" Jean frowned. "Kitty, where is all of this coming from?"

Kurt interrupted the confrontation. "Listen people. Jean is right, we all have our own opinions. But Kätzchen explained to me that...that she... uh". He stuttered trying to rack his mind, looking for the perfect excuse. Kitty cross her fingers hoping that he would find something really good to say. He finally said, "...She has to memorize a whole section from a story in German."

Kitty smiled nervously and nodded her head quickly in agreement. Jean, Scott, Bobby, and Jubilee gaped for a minute. Bobby was the first to speak. "Gee Kitty, If I were you and I had to memorize a passage in German, I'd make a run for it."

Jean spoke up. "I'm sorry Kitty, I didn't know you were this frustrated. I kind of understand why you would want to go to the beach instead. But how come you didn't tell us?"

Kitty said the first thing that came to mind. "Because Kurt here actually knows how to speak German and I needed his help. I was afraid if I told you guys, that you would have high expectations for me and I'd let you all down. So I wanted it to like, be a surprise."

Rogue entered the conversation, "So when are you going to the beach?" She asked Kitty. "I don't know. But Kurt and I have work to do so..." She grabbed Kurt by the arm and continued. "...Come on Kurt. We have to get like, really, really busy."

With that, they were gone. Scott turned to everyone else and said, "Don't worry about Kitty. She'll be fine. She gets this way when she really has something on her mind. So forget what she said. Now let's go and get in some training before Logan finds out." His last sentence was enough to get everyone moving.

Rogue on the other hand, wanted to make sure Pietro and Wanda showed up at the right moment. And after that, her job would finally be done. _Then I can get away from these snot-nosed brats_. She said to herself. She only wished she could inject Kitty herself. But since going to the construction site was her idea, she had to stick to it so no one would suspect her of anything. She walked out the door and headed out with the others.


	6. Chapter 6

After a few minutes of the departure from the other x men, another duo arrived.

Kurt and Kitty Poofed back to Kitty's room. Pietro was staring out of the window. Kitty was the first to speak, "Sorry we took so long." What she said didn't seem to register him as he kept looking out the window. "Pietro? What's wrong?" She asked getting spooked by his silence.

Pietro didn't exactly answer her question. But he did say something, "I just saw the others leave, but who's that?" He pointed toward the driveway. Kitty ans Kurt ran over to see what he was talking about.

They saw two people racing for the door of the mansion. "Well we're about to find out." Said Kurt taking Kitty and Pietro by their hands. He teleported them to the front door. The trio came face to face with the unannounced duo. Kitty, Kurt and Pietro dropped their jaws.

"Kitty! Kurt!" exclaimed Rogue in felicity the moment she saw them. She ran to them and threw her arms around them, much out of her character. "Rouge!" Kurt yelled. "Is it really you?" "Of course it's me. Who else would ah be."

Pietro finally got over his state of shock and answered the question. "Well judging by everything that's been going on, he might have thought you were Mystique." he explained. "Mystique?! Why would he think that ah was Mystique?" Pietro slapped his palm against his head. "I was kind of hoping I didn't have to go over this story again." He said referring to the time when he and Kitty explained it Kurt. He dreadfully began reviewing the story.

Kitty was happy that Rogue was back, but she was even happier about something else. She approached Gambit with a shy gait. "Oh my gosh, like I didn't think you were going to make the right decision. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?" Kitty shouted surprised however gleeful at the same time. Gambit replied. "Well if it wasn't for ya showing up when ya did, then ah'd probably still be beating myself up over what to do.

For a moment there, I thought about what ya said about Rogue not forgiving anyone. Ah thought Ah'd lose her trust for good. But everything turned out well." he ended meek. "So like, how did you two get back?" Kitty asked.

Before her question could get answered, they all heard the sound of the elevator opening. "Quick grab on." Kurt whispered. Everyone made contact and teleported from the foyer.

As soon as they left, the professor and Storm walked through the anteroom while discussing Jean. "So how do you suppose we go about spending time with her?" Questioned storm. "Maybe we should have somewhat of a get together of the sort." Xavier replied. "Do you mean like a celebration party." "I'm not sure, but we can't let her know that she is to become something so dominant, and formidable.

If she had the slightest idea, I'm afraid that she may run away and prevent us from finding her for the fear of hurting us." "So, if we do throw her a party, what are we going to say to her when she asks about the occasion?" "Maybe we could pull some strings and say we're celebrating the fact that she has succeeded in progressing in her powers. Surely she has to understand." Xavier conversed.

The discussion was cut short when Logan walked in the room. "Hey, any of you seen those procrastinators anywhere? I smell em', but I don't see em'. They were supposed to see me at target practice almost an hour ago." Storm answered his question, "I don't know. They were supposed to be home by now. Or maybe they're just trying to avid you Logan. I've heard for a long time that the children dreaded your teaching skills." She said with a bit of a giggle. Logan grunted, "Well they're really not going to like my teaching skills when they get back because I'm changing their training time from an hour and thirty minutes, to three hours and fifty." He said very stern.

Logan was just about to meander the corner that led to the kitchen when he smelled something familiar albeit very displeasing. "Is it me, or do I smell Gambit?" He asked in his gruff and scorning voice.

Storm had an answer for that. "The last time you claimed that you smelled Gambit, the smell came from the card he gave to Rogue. Maybe she's been through here recently." Logan differed. "I know that! But this time, the smell is stronger. Almost like he was here himself." He frowned.

The professor wanted to make sure everything was alright, so he began to scan the house with his telekinetic power. He searched from room to room. Once he got a lock of a presence in the jet room, He looked into it and saw Gambit along with Pietro. "Wolverine! It appears as though you are right. Gambit is here as is Quicksilver."

The teachers quickly made their way down to the jet room. As they boarded the elevator Logan asked, "What are they doing here? And why Here?" The professor answered, "I don't know. But the chances of Magneto orchestrating this would be no surprise,"

In the Jet Room

When the group made it to the jet room, Kitty, Kurt, and Pietro exhaled a sigh of relief. Gambit and Rogue stared clueless. Rogue started off, "alright, what's goin' on? How come we had to run away from the others?" Kitty answered her question . "Because no one else knows about what happened to you except all of us." "What?! You mean you didn't tell anybody where we were? We could have died!"

Pietro intervened. "Correction! You would have died if we **did** tell everyone." "An' why is that?" asked Gambit. "well if I had a chance to finish the story, then I would have told you. But now I'm just going to skip over all of the details.

We didn't tell anyone because my father wants to keep his plan a secret. He didn't want anyone to know..." Rogue interrupted, "So you're betraying your father? Ah always thought you were, ah don't know, his under-wing or somethin'" Pietro flustered. "Well maybe at a time! But after seeing his true colors, I doubt that I would ever want to be like him!" he retorted angrily. "So how did ya end up working with Kitty?" She continued her interrogation.

Kitty was getting tired of the exchanging words and questions. "Guys! Cut it out!" She yelled, silencing everyone else. "Okay like, Rogue and Gambit are safe now. Shouldn't we be getting ready to move on in the next step?" "What next step?!" Rogue shouted with her brows furled from being in a disarray. "Well..."

She was cut off when the Professor, storm and Logan entered the room. Logan immediately jumped into action as he spotted Gambit. Gambit took out his staff and repelled Logan with it. Logan shot out his adamantium claws and began slashing at Gambit. Gambit was trying hard to hold back from hurting Logan as much as possible.

Kitty, Kurt, Pietro and Rogue ran to the professor pleading different words at all once. Xavier couldn't understand the words that were being said. "Please, slow down! I can't hear what you're saying." Rogue came closer to the professor. She panted, "Professor! Make Logan stop attacking Gambit! He hasn't done anything!"

"Yeah, he was just trying to help!" screamed Kurt. Kitty said, "This isn't what it looks like! Just make him stop and they'll explain why they're here." Pietro added. "Yeah. Anything you want. Just make him stop!" he said quickly.

"Very well." Said the professor. "Storm?" he bade her to stop Logan. She understood and flew over to where they were and used her powers over the wind to blow them apart. Logan dismissed the fact that they were separated and lunged at Gambit once more. The professor used his telekinesis to hold Logan off.

Vexed at this, Logan called out, "What's the meaning of this professor!" "Logan! I understand that the two of you don't commute very well. But the children seems to be in a distressful situation." he said while lowering him down to the ground.

Logan scowled at Gambit before walking away. Gambit made his way over to everyone else.

The professor wanted a clear explanation. "So, what seems to be the trouble?" He asked in his pensive gesture, his fingers interlaced under his chin and covering most of his lips. Gambit was the one who volunteered to do the talking.

"Listen here Professor. Magneto is hatching a plan. And it's bigger than ya' think. Ah forgot how most of it works, but it involves creating a new world order. A world in his image." The professor wanted all the details he could get, so he did it the quicker way. "Gambit? Would you mind if I entered your head?" "Not at all." he stooped down and allowed the professor to enter.

Everything that Gambit had in his head, the professor saw. When he was summoned by Magneto, when he arrived at the park, the secret lair, his effort to help Rogue; him being locked away in a cell, making their way back, and arriving at the mansion. Once he was finished, he left Gambit in a small amount of pain. But it wore off in a few seconds.

"I see. What a very dangerous plan it is. And very evil indeed." Said the professor. He turned his attention to Pietro, "Quicksilver." He called his name gently. Pietro looked from side to side and then back at the professor. "Are you talking to me?" he asked while pointing his thumb at his sternum. "Yes, come here please."

Pietro saw the condition Gambit was in when he finished getting his mind read. "You're not going to do that to me are you?" He asked shakily craven. "Yes. But it would only be a minute." Pietro gulped and went over to the professor and stooped down the same as Gambit. The professor grasped each side of his temple and began to read his mind.

The professor was having great difficulty sorting out Pietro's mind as it was functioning too fast. The images in his head were like a colorful blur. "Pietro, I need you to slow your thoughts." The professor commanded. "Concentrate Pietro!" The harder Pietro tried to concentrate, the more painful it got. He was grimacing with agony as was the professor as he was trying his best to read his mind.

The others looked on in amazement. Pietro tried to slow his thoughts, but he didn't know how since he had always moved fast without slowing down. His gait was fast, his speech was fast, he ran fast, ate fast, and saw the world as it moved slow around him. Now he was straining to come to a slow. But after a while, he finally slowed his mind down for the first time in his life.

The professor was able to read his mind more clearly. When he got the information he needed, he let go, panting. Pietro was also drained and he was near unconsciousness. Gambit caught him as he was falling over. Storm and Logan ran to the professor's aid while the other students ran to Pietro.

"Professor? Are you alright?" Asked a concerned Storm. "Yes, I'm fine. Now I understand why cerebro couldn't get a clear identification of him before. His mind is very untraceable. And If I wasn't careful, then my mind would probably have been lost in itself." "So did you find anything out? Like, why he's here?" "Indeed. It appears to be that he has betrayed his father to save Wanda."

The professor sat up straighter in his chair before proceeding. "Take Pietro down to the infirmary. Inform Hank that he is here on good intentions." He said speaking to Logan. Storm and the professor entered the elevator. "The rest of you will come upstairs and wait for the others to arrive. Rogue, try to stay out of sight since I know you're being duplicated by Mystique. And you should remain hidden too Gambit.

Pietro has indeed made the right decisions to keep things sane. There is no need for everyone to go in a panic."The Professor concluded. With that, the elevator closed behind them.

Logan took Pietro from Gambit. Kurt, Gambit and Rogue went up to the elevator. Kitty was about to go, but she was concerned about Pietro. So she crept off in the direction to the infirmary. She phased through the walls to keep her scent from being detected by Logan.

Logan entered the lab where Hank was studying scientific notations. "Hey bub!" Logan said as he stepped in. "I need you to take care of him for me." he said while handing Pietro over to him. Hank was confused just like all the others. Beast scratched his head, "I don't understand, isn't he of the brotherhood?" Hank asked bewildered. "Yeah. Charles sent me to tell you that he's here on good intentions." "Is that so?" Hank said taking up Pietro. "I guess so." "So what's the story of his presence?" "Believe me, if you want to find out what's going on, then you're going to have to tale to the professor. I'm still learning as it goes." "If you say so." Hank said while taking Pietro to the infirmary.

After Logan left to go upstairs, Kitty phased out of the walls and went to the infirmary where Hank was connecting the electrocardiogram, and other wires to detect brainwaves. "Um, Hi Mr. McCoy." Kitty acknowledge him as she entered the room. "Kitty. What brings you here?" he said surprised upon seeing her. "Like, I just wanted to see if Pietro was okay." "You know of him being here?" "Yeah. So does Kurt and Rogue."

Hank started the machines and he was getting a reading on Pietro's status. "So, Kitty. Do you mind telling me what happened here?" "You mean like, what he's doing here, or what happened to him?" "The second inquiry if you don't mind." "Well," kitty started by gazing at the ceiling. "The professor was reading his mind. I don't know exactly what happened, but it looked like the professor was having trouble reading it, so he like, told him to slow down so he could get a good reading. When the professor got done, Pietro just fainted." Kitty explained as much as she could.

Hank was listening to every word. "Sounds interesting. Now all we have to do is see what's going on with him now. Shall we?" Said beast, inviting her to go to the observatory with him.

When they got there, they took a look at his visual charts. What caught hank's attention was Pietro's brainwaves. "Hmm, I expected for his brainwaves to be faster than this." He thought a bit perplexed. "So what's wrong?" Kitty asked. "I'm not yet sure, but hopefully we'll find out." Hank monitored the charts relentlessly.

All of a sudden, the electrocardiogram showed that Pietro had engaged in a convulsion. Hank and Kitty Immediately ran to the infirmary and found Pietro as he was having a seizure. "Quick Mr. McCoy! Do something!" "I...I don't know what to do!" They both panicked.

Kitty ran over to Pietro to try and calm him. "Pietro! Pietro can you understand me?!" She shouted in vain. He gave no response as he was in critical condition. Hank ran back to the observatory to check his readings. He saw as his body was shaking vigorously, yet his brainwaves were unstable as well. Hank gasped in astonishment. "I see now. His mind is trying to get back in sync with his body." He made a run for the infirmary again.

"Kitty!Kitty! I know what's wrong with him." "Really, What?" She said terrified. "His mind and physical structure aren't functioning together. He's trying to match his mind back with his body." "Like, how did it lose connection in the first place?"

Just as she uttered the question, Pietro calmed down and began breathing regularly. Hank proceeded in answering her question. "If I recall accurately, didn't you say the professor asked him to slow his thoughts to make his mind readable?" "Yeah. Why?" "It appears to be that Pietro wasn't built to slow down. A fast-functioning body requires a fast-functioning mind.

It's like having a really fast computer but a slow operating chip. The two are not compatible which makes the computer void. The same rule applies to Pietro. If his mind and body doesn't match up, then he too would become void. But in his case, void would mean fatal."

After receiving the news, Kitty was only relieved the Pietro was able to put his mind and body in sync again. Hank laid a hand on her shoulder. "Let him rest and he should be better soon." he assured her. "I'm going to be running some more tests on him to make sure he is completely stabilized." Kitty nodded her head slowly. Hank could clearly see the worry on her face, which made him wonder, _Since when did Kitty become so close to Pietro?_

Kitty left the infirmary to join the others upstairs. Hank went back to the observatory to manage Pietro's recuperating status. When he got there, he checked everything thoroughly. He came across many discoveries with him. "He's rebooting himself as though he's a human computer. And his brainwaves are immense." He said to himself. _If Pietro ever slows himself down like that again, then he may not survive._ Hank concluded his thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

At the Brotherhood

Blob and Lance were in the kitchen playing poker without chips, and eating at the same time. Wanda was busy wondering where Pietro got off to. Toad was in the living room watching a rerun of One Love to Cherish while eating bonbons.

Lance looked over at Todd. "Hey Toad! Why in the world are you looking at dried up soap operas?" "After being around the house all day with nun' to do, then you pick up new habits yo! Maybe I'll stop when things get better around here." Toad argued. "Things are better around here. Pietro isn't here being obnoxious." Lance rebutted. "That's true, but you and Blob are still louses. Ya'll don't do anything fun!" "You'll learn to appreciate us sooner or later." Lance said getting back to his game. "Yeah, well I'll think about it." Todd ended and finished watching the television.

Wanda walked downstairs from her room. "Has Pietro come back yet?" She asked to none of them in particular. But Toad answered. "Nope! Say baby-cakes, how 'bout you and me go on a date so I can stop watching these boring and entertaining soap operas." He suggested. "Are you out of your mind?!" Wanda yelled at him. "Actually, I lost my mind when I started watching that stuff. But maybe you can help me find it." He coquetted. Wanda dusted him off.

She walked in the kitchen and asked Lance and Fred. "Has anyone seen Pietro?" Lance answered while Freddy was still stuffing his face with croissants filled with cheese. "I haven't seen him since he got blasted over the phone by Kitty." He said nonchalant. "What were they talking about?" She asked seriously. "Because he offended her when he called me names behind my back. What can I say, she really cares about me."

His answer didn't help her at all. So she headed for the door. Toad saw as she was leaving. "Hey Wanda! Where you going? Peitro said not to leave here without him. Remember?" "Of course I do, but he's not going to keep me here worrying about him." She said dead serious. "But...but...but.." "No buts! I'm going to find him." she said persistently. With nothing further to say, she walked out the door.

Toad sadly sauntered over to the television and finished watching television. 'Man, now I'm never gonna stop watching this." He complained and took a seat in front of the T.V.

The skies were a pinkish blue, alerting nightfall. At least 15 minutes after Wanda left, they received an evening visitor. The doorbell rang and Lance opened the door. He gasped when he saw who it was. "Magneto! Um, if you're looking for Pietro and Wanda, then they're not here." He said shakily.

Magneto made his way inside. "Pietro may not be here at the moment, but that doesn't mean he will be able to escape my wrath." he said menacingly.

Lance, Todd, and Fred couldn't understand what Pietro could have done to make his father so angry. Lance, having the most backbone out of all of them, spoke up. "So, how are you going to find him?" asked Lance. Magneto replied, "I don't have to find him. He should be returning here some time soon. And when he does, I want for you all to hand him over to me." He explained.

Todd spoke next, "But, Pietro's our friend. We just can't turn our backs on him." He he said cravenly modest. Magneto didn't like what Toad said. "You mean the same way he didn't turn his back on you! Don't forget that he was the one who had your friend over there captured by the sentinels." He pointed to Blob. "But, we forgave him. So why does that count?" Todd asked again. "Because it appears that Pietro has chosen to deceive you once again." "What did he do?" Todd wanted to know, as well as the others.

"I am not going to tell you. In fact, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you all." Magneto concluded before a small metallic orb floated in the house. In the middle of the orb was a rectangular T.V screen. The video of Pietro in the lair was displayed. Lance opened his mouth wide when he saw Kitty there with him. Toad and Fred were wondering why he would help out a member of the X men. Especially Kitty Pryde.

They heard every word that was said. When the video was finished playing, their trust for Pietro was distorted. Lance was just as confused as the others. "Why is here there with Kitty? Of all people." Lance asked in disbelief. Magneto answered his questions. "It seems as though they are partners in crime. From my understanding, he didn't tell you all what he's been up to lately." "No, he hasn't. I guess that would explain why Kitty asked to speak to him. Wait a second!" Lance shouted as he reminisced the time he was on the phone with her. "So, she lied to me?!" He shouted.

The house began to shake. Lance was so angry that he was sending tremors throughout the house. Todd and Fred tried to run over to Lance to calm him down, but Magneto stood in front of them, letting them know that they were not allowed to intervene.

Lance began to yell, talking to himself. "All this time! They were working together! She lied to me! And Pietro, that no account, backstabbing looser! They'll pay for this!" Lance had gained much malice for both Kitty and Pietro. "Where are they?!" Lance demanded, stopping the tremors from occurring.

"I trust you to not worry about that, Avalanche." Magneto stated. "I just need for you to capture him and deliver him to me. And for your loyalty, I will allow you all to rule parts of the world in your own fashion." He bribed.

Todd and Fred liked the sound of the idea. "So how come Pietro teamed up with that skimpy little X girl any way yo?" Asked Toad. "My guesses are: Pietro didn't count on you all to help him achieve his goal. He probably thinks you're worthless, invaluable, insignificant, and inefficient." Magneto insinuated. "Perhaps, he figured he get help from the winning team whether than counting on his friends for the fear that they would let him down." Magneto said, beginning to use reverse-psychology.

The way Magneto explained it, made them feel like they weren't worth anything. "Well I, Lance Alvers, am not insignificant! I'll show Pietro. We'll bring him to you in no time. All we have to do is figure out where he is!" Lance declared. "Pietro will come back sooner or later." Magneto assured him "See to it that Wanda doesn't find out about his capture. When you do succeed in catching him, press this button here to alert me and I shall retrieve him." He indicated the button on the metallic sphere that showed the video earlier. He handed in over to them.

As soon he left, Toad threw a sleuth of questions, "So how are we gonna catch him? He's too fast!" Blob agreed by nodding his head. Toad proceeded, "Besides yo, why wouldn't Pietro trust us? We're buddies. We've always been by his side. Why would he betray us like that? Does he really think we're not good enough?" Toad kept asking.

Lance got fed up with the interrogation. "Toad! SHUT-UP!" He yelled as loud as he could. He continued, "I don't know why Pietro betrayed us and I don't care. But we're going to teach him a thing or two not to underestimate the brotherhood of mutants!" Lance said angrily.

Blob had something to say as well. "This is the second time that no good Pietro turned his back on us. This time, I'm really gonna squash him! If he thinks I'm a loser, I'm gonna show him who the loser really is!" Blob said with his fists clenched.

Todd was sobbing, "I'm not worthless. Pietro how could you be so cruel yo? I know he didn't treat me right in the past, but this is unbelievable. But I guess that's what explains why he was being so polar bear." He wiped the tears from his eyes. "Get it together Toad!" Lance yelled. "I think watching all of those soap operas made you go soft. We're going to find Pietro! And when we do, he just better hope I don't take his head off before his father does! But first, I want to pay a little visit to a little traitor who made a fool out of me!" Lance began stomping out the door.

Toad gasped. "But Lance! Magneto wants us to catch Pietro first!" Toad reminded him. "Listen Toad, when I said Lance does what Lance wants to do when Lance wants to do it! And right now, Lance wants to have a little talk with Kitty Pryde!"

There was nothing Toad could say or do to get Lance to change his mind. "I just hope we don't get the blame when Magneto finds out we didn't go after Pietro." Toad whined. "Come on Freddy. It looks like we have no choice." Toad beckoned for Fred to come along with them.

They followed Lance out to the jeep. Unfortunately he didn't have enough gas to make it to the X mansion, so he had to stop by a gas station first. Though he would rather stop by the X mansion to confront Kitty.

The lair

Magneto returned to the lair to find the acolytes were still there with the three remaining satellites. "Why are you still here?!" Magneto demanded. Colossus was the first to speak. "Magneto sir, We were about to leave with the satellites. But the dynamics for their specific location is gone. Without them, we know not how to align them with the others." he summed everything up.

Magneto went over to the wall where the dynamics were supposed to be. "Of course. They take the blueprints, and they take the one person they know can help make this machine work." Magneto figured. "Release the juggernaut." Magneto commanded.

"I wanted this to go smoothly. To have everything functioning perfectly. But everything went awry the moment Pietro showed up." he said disgustedly. "I wanted to rule this world and share my glory with him as father and son. Wanda as well if she were to survive the ordeal. And if that's what I want, so it shall be." he ended ominously.

They released the juggernaut as they were told. As usual, when the juggernaut gained consciousness, the first thing he had on his mind was his brother Xavier. "Where is Xavier?" He questioned murderously. Magneto knew exactly what to say to get the juggernaut to work in his favor.

"Juggernaut, you seek revenge on your brother do you not?" "Yes. I will crush him!" Caine yelled. "I'm sorry to say this, but Charles has already been permanently eliminated by a young mutant named Pietro Django Maximoff. He is the reason why you are unable to fulfill your desires of revenge."

The juggernaut Grimaced an unpleasant look of rage. The veins in his face began to show and prove just how angry he was. "Where is this Pietro Maximoff?!" He said while storming across the room.

"I assume that you would want to go and search for him, however the only way off of this island is through my way of transportation." Magneto added.

Magneto brought forth a sphere of his size. The juggernaut entered and magneto closed it soon after. He launched the sphere across the ocean and sent it toward New York. Being that the Juggernaut was so heavy, the sphere wasn't going as fast as usual, but still fast enough.

Pyro couldn't understand why Magneto would put Pietro in harms way for the fact that he was his son. "Uh, boss?" Pyro stuttered out. "Are you sure you don't wanna use mastermind to rearrange his mind?" "No!" Magneto yelled. "Pietro has ruined everything far beyond repair. I knew if he ever found out that Wanda's life could be in jeopardy that he would oppose. It seems as though I was right.

Now he has forced me to take things to another level. It would be much harder and take much longer for me to get things back into place. So I'm sending the juggernaut along with the rest of you and the brotherhood to make an attack at the X mansion as soon as they capture Pietro. I want you to rally every X men there and imprison them so they will not be able to stop me in the future.

I will Inform Mystique that the X men are no longer ignorant of her presence."

Colossus asked the next Question. "But, how is the brotherhood going to be able to capture Pietro if the juggernaut finds him first?" "I only told him that to give him a purpose. If he was to target Xavier, he would undermine me, seeking only to appease his blood lust for his brother." Magneto answered.

"But what if juggernaut catches Pietro first?" asked Sabretooth. "That's the point. He won't be able to catch him. Pietro is much too fast. But if he does somehow manage to catch him, then Pietro will surely regret the day he decided to betray me."

"But I thought you wanted to rule the world as father and son. How will ya if juggernaut does away with 'im" Pyro asked. "Just leave that to me. For now, I want you to do as I say. As for me, I'm going to find Wanda."

At the X men

Before the sun completely left from the sky, Scott and the others returned. Bobby shouted as soon as he got out of the car, "Aw man! That awesome! I was not the first, but the third to be eliminated this time. I told you guys I could handle rigorous training!" "Yeah we're all happy for you Bobby." Jubilee responded discreetly. "No need to feel bad because you were the first to be eliminated Jubes." Bobby teased.

"I have to say that was pretty intense." Scott said, "I mean, with Jean moving objects around made it so unpredictable. Normally you can anticipate the droids in the training room." he continued excitedly. Jean was flattered. "Well it was all Rogue's idea anyway. Despite the fact that she was the second one to be eliminated." She giggled. "Now I just have to figure out how to clean this cement out of my clothes." She finished.

"I just wish Kitty and Kurt would have been there." Added Jubilee. Everyone nodded and agreed out loud. Rogue was the only one who wasn't saying anything. _I just hope Wanda and Pietro were able to pull it off. And if I'm lucky, I'll be out of here soon._

Jubilee caught sign of Rogue's silence and asked, "So, what's on your mind Rogue? Normally you'd be totally into the training session, but this time you weren't. Care to tell me about it?" "Ah'm just tired. Ah guess it wasn't as fun as ah thought it would be." "What do you mean it wasn't fun?! That was great!" Jubilee shouted in felicity.

The students entered the anteroom where the professor, Storm, Logan, and Kurt awaited them. "Well look who it is." Logan started off. The kids were looking around aimlessly, trying to avoid the look on Logan's face. "So, where've you been?" He asked. Scott started of nervously, "Uh...we were just..uh," "Forget it! We'll discuss this later." Logan said while leaving.

The Professor greeted the children. "Welcome back all of you. I suppose you got in some good training?" He said shrewdly. Everyone bashfully nodded their heads while mumbling to themselves. Storm finished the conversation. "Excellent. Hopefully you all have worked up an appetite as dinner will be served in a few short minutes. For now, you all get washed up. We will be seeing you real soon."

As soon as Storm ended, all of the students, except Rogue, ran over to Kurt. All at once they were telling him how the day went. Kurt wasn't really paying attention. He was wondering when the professor was going to alert everyone else.

The professor and Storm entered his office. He took a moment to reach out to Hank and send a mental message. _Hank?_ He called out. _Yes professor? _Beast responded. _Have you come across a syringe that may have been in Pietro's possession? _Asked Xavier. _Yes professor, I have. I was preparing him for a CAT scan and removing excess objects that may have been attached to him when I found it. What's in it? And why is he carrying it around?_ Hank questioned. _It's a long story Hank. I need you to bring that up to me this instant. _

After the professor gave his demand, he began to reach out to specific students. _Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, Jubilee, I want you all to see me in my office right away. There is something very important I need to share with you. Be here in the next three minutes._

Jean and Scott met with the others in the corridor leading to the professor's office. "What's so urgent that the professor has to send for us in less than five minutes?" Asked Scott. "I don't know, but it sounds like it's urgent." Jean answered.

They all walked into the office. "Please, have a seat.." Said Storm. They all did as they were told. "The professor has something very important to tell you. So please listen carefully. And no loud outbursts." She made herself clear.

The professor came forth. "I know that some of you may have noticed Kitty's strange behavior this morning." he began.

"Isn't it because she was concerned about Rogue's crush?" Jean suggested. "Or maybe because she has to memorize a passage in German." Bobby retorted.

The professor answered, "I understand that is probably what Kitty told you. However, none of it is true." All of the students gasped. The professor continued, "Kitty had a much bigger problem on her hand. A problem that involves a member of the brotherhood, Pietro."

"What did he do to her!" Scott jumped up in attack mode. "I thought I said no outbursts." Said Storm. "Sorry Storm. But if kitty's in some kind of danger, we'll be more than happy to help." Scott said crucially.

The professor proceeded, "Kitty is in some kind of danger. But it is not with Pietro. In fact, she and Pietro were involved on a mission together when they went spying on Magneto." The students had a look of surprise on their faces. "Pietro didn't trust the other members of the brotherhood enough to bring them along, so he entrusted Kitty to help him uncover his father's plan.

They left yesterday some time after the battle. They followed Gambit all the way to a remote island where they found your fellow teammate, Rogue, captured."

"Whoa! Rogue was captured!" Bobby shouted. Storm simply shook her head as she saw there was no point in reiterating herself. Jubilee continued after Bobby. "When?! How come we didn't know about it."

"Please." the professor pleaded. "I will explain everything along the way. Now as I was saying, Kitty and Pietro uncovered the secrets that Magneto kept concealed. The battle with the brotherhood was just a decoy to get Wanda to release what you call, hex particles.

When those particles were released, they managed to hide Sabretooth's scent from Logan. He crept into Rouge's room where he sedated her and took her with him to Magneto's hideout.

Pietro and Kitty hid themselves as the were listening to Magneto's plot. He is going to use Wanda to release those hex particles all over the world, thus reshaping it in his image. The fact that Wanda may not survive the process led Pietro to betraying his father.

Pietro has been secretly meeting with Kitty to tell her what to do and how to avoid being captured herself. As kitty is also needed in Magneto's plot to make an entire machine intangible. So far, He has managed to stop two major events from occurring.

Those events would have ensued another battle from the brotherhood, leading to another. That trip to the construction site was actually a trap meant for Kitty. Rogue was the one who set it up as Rouge is really being duplicated by Mystique." All of the X members dropped their jaw.

"She expected for Kitty to be going with the rest of you so she could inject her with a neural-paralysis bio-fluid. Pietro only speculated that she was going to frame the brotherhood for Kitty's kidnapping which would create another battle between you two teams to buy Magneto some more time.

In my opinion, I do believe he was right. Because the kind of time that Magneto needs is significant. None of you were to know anything as of yet because you would exploit yourselves to them. In other words, Mystique would have figured you all out already and things could have gone downhill." The professor explained as clear as possible.

"So why would Magneto need to Kidnap Rogue?" Asked Jean. "Because Rogue would pose a greater threat to the juggernaut. Without Rogue, you all will be very vulnerable to his attacks." Xavier answered.

"Where is Rogue now?" Scott asked. "She is here, along with Gambit and Pietro." "They're here?! In the mansion?!" Scott said, taken by surprise. "Yes. Gambit is With Rogue and Pietro is in the infirmary."

When the professor answered Scott's question. Hank walked in the room. "Here's the syringe professor." he said while handing it over.

The professor held up the syringe so the other students could see it. "This was supposed to have been used on Kitty if she had agreed to go to the construction site. Because Kitty changed her mind, Mystique was forced to hand it over to Pietro so that he and Wanda would corner her at the beach, and use it to capture her.

Thanks to Pietro, he prevented that from happening. Knowing that Mystique has the ability to allude her enemies, Pietro decided to use it on Mystique instead. He was planning on telling everyone else about this, but a turn of events led to one thing after another."

"So how do you know Pietro isn't lying?" Asked Bobby. "Because I've seen his memories and read his thoughts. They were genuine. And it looks to be that he's breaking himself off from his father entirely. And if his father were ever to find out, I'm afraid his treason would not be taken lightly. I want you to protect Pietro just as you would the other members of the X men. He is truly in grave danger. Not only by his father, but by the brotherhood as well." He concluded.

After the professor ended, the students got up from their seats and prepared to walk out of the door when Jubilee asked, "So where's the real Rogue?" "She's in the Jet room with Gambit." answered the professor. "Kurt and Kitty are in the kitchen with Mystique. I want Jean and Bobby to accompany them, while you and Scott retrieve Both Gambit and Rogue.

And I must say to you Jean Bobby, do not panic upon reaching the kitchen. Is everything clear?" The professor directed them. He gave them directions on what do when they reached their destinations. They all shook their heads signaling that they understood, and then walked out the door.

Jubilee and Scott went down to the jet room while Bobby and Jean went to the kitchen.

Kitty and Kurt were in the kitchen trying their best to avoid the questions Mystique was asking in the form of Rogue. "So how come ya didn't go to the beach?" She asked, obviously enraged, but discreet. Kitty answered nervously. "You see, we uh...got sleepy from all of the studying...and then we like, fell asleep for a little while."

"That's true." Kurt agreed. "We just had so much to do that, we just didn't have enough time." He smile shakily innocent. "Ah just don't undastand why ya keep changin' ya mind!" She retorted, beginning to to suspect them of knowing her true identity.

At that moment, Jean and Bobby walked in the room. Both Kitty and Kurt were relived when they saw their faces. Jean telepathically told Kitty and Kurt that the professor went over the whole situation. That made them twice as happy. _So what's going to happen?_ Kitty asked Jean mentally. _The professor has it all figured out. Just wait a few more minutes._ Jean answered.

Both Bobby and Jean sat down and acted casual. Bobby was still freaked out by the fact they were in the same room with one of their arch enemies. "So uh,...how's the German coming along?" Bobby stalled.

Scott and Jubilee found Gambit and Rogue playing cards in the jet room. Jubilee was the one delivered the message. "Rogue, the professor told us all that was going on. We need you upstairs immediately." "Yeah, you need to make a quick trip to the kitchen. Gambit, you're welcomed to come along." Scott ended.

Gambit and Rogue got up immediately after they heard the Professor' ultimatum. They all ran to the elevator where Scott instructed Rogue on what to do when they got there.

It was before long once the group reached the anteroom of the mansion. "Alright Rogue." Scott commanded as they were standing outside the kitchen door. "Get ready." Upon hearing his command, Rogue slipped off her glove and raised her hand.

Scott sent Jean the mental signal. Jean looked over to Bobby letting him know it was time. "Hey Rogue," Jean said nicely, putting her hand on Mystique's shoulder, trying her hardest not to grimace in disgust. "Scott and the rest of us just wanted to say thanks for the escape. So there's just one thing left to do. " She spoke while walking her out the door.

As soon as the door opened, Mystique's eyes grew wide with surprise as she saw the real Rogue standing in front of her. Jean held her in place to keep her from running anywhere. Rogue stretched out her hand and made contact with her. Mystique fainted afterward.

Kitty and Kurt ran to the scene to witness the fall of Mystique. "Wow! You guys like, totally Rock!" Kitty said excitedly. Gambit was watching in interest. "My, ah like the way you guys work." He complimented.

"Stick around Cajun and ya jus' might learn a thing or two." Rogue coquetted, only a little. Bobby froze Mystique's unconscious body in a block of ice. Afterward, Jean used her telekinesis to move the block of ice down to the sub part of the mansion where she would be retained.


	8. Chapter 8

In the Infirmary

Pietro had just awakened from his unconscious state. He looked around and had no idea where he was. He sat up in the bed and held his head. "Where am I? Geez, that guy really did a number on me." He continued to look around and saw that no one was in there.

He looked down at himself and saw that his shirt was gone and wires were attached to his bare skin. He began to take them off by the few until they were all disconnected. "Hmm, am I in a hospital or something? And where's my shirt?"

He got out of bed and walked around for a moment before venturing out in the hall. It was vacant, and the room he just came out of looked more like a laboratory. "This isn't like any hospital I've ever seen. Unless, I'm still in the mansion." He pondered to himself out loud.

Just then, Hank had walked out of the elevator where he saw Pietro standing in the middle of the hall. The sudden sight of Hank made Pietro jolt. "Whoa! Seriously you have got to warn people when you show up!" Pietro screamed in a state of shock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Hank said apologetic. "Say, I've seen you before. What was your name?" Pietro asked. "Oh, do forgive me, my name is Mr. Hank McCoy. Or you can just call me Beast." "Beast, huh? Well then, would you mind telling me where I can find my shirt? It's weird walking around in a place you don't recognize. Especially when you're shirtless!" He said excitedly discombobulated.

"Follow me and I'll give you some other kind of special cloth." Hank ordered nicely. "Special cloth?" Pietro asked curiously. "Yes. It's a type of cloth that contains muslin, microfiber, and a specially woven silk.

The fabric itself is very thin and light, but also very strong. Almost indestructible. It is also fireproof, and does not produce static electricity. Therefore it allows you free movement whereas regular clothes may feel slightly heavier and are prone to tear after so many rough plays.

Which reminds me, I had to dispose of your shoes because of the wear and tear. One more run and they will be deemed unusable. So I made few adjustments on a pair of shoes that I was inventing made especially for running.

They were meant for the other students during their frequent movement in battle. And I must ask you this: Have you somehow broken to a new level of speed?"

"Yeah? How could you tell?" Pietro said in amazement. "Based on the information from the clothes you were wearing. It seems that you've had ownership of them for quite some time. However, they began to wear down. Your shirt was on the brink of ripping underneath the arms. Maybe at your previous speed they would have held up." Hank explained while leading Pietro to a room next to the training area.

Hank opened the door and allowed Pietro to enter before he did. Beast went over to the wall on the right side of the room and opened a closet. He pulled out a royal blue shirt, black pants, and a pair of black shoes with a high Achilles notch and a silver band across the heel collar.

He handed the clothes over to Pietro and said,"Here, try these on." Pietro gratefully received the clothes and then expressed a look of being lost. "Uh?" Pietro started off. "Do you mind if I have a little bit of privacy?" he eased out his words in a low tone. "Of course. I'll be right outside the door if you need anything." Hank said while walking out the door.

Once Pietro was in the room alone, he said to himself out loud. "Now this is what I call hospitality." He began to dress himself. When he got the shirt on, he had to look in the mirror to see if he had indeed put in on. "Whoa! I can't even feel myself wearing this. It's like it's a part of me or something." He slipped on the pants and moved his leg back and forth. "Hmm. Perfect fit." Then he put on the shoes.

The Achilles notch felt really comfortable on his own Achilles heel. Afterward, he looked at himself in the mirror from head to toe. "I always knew I looked good. I even make the clothes look good." He boasted on himself with an audacious smile.

Hank was in the hallway, patiently waiting on Pietro when the other members of the X men came down. "Hello everyone. What brings you down here?" Hank asked modestly. Scott spoke for everyone. "We were just bringing Mystique here to keep her from escaping." "Oh. Well I'm glad everything worked out okay."

A few seconds later, Pietro walked out the room to find Hank. "Excuse me sir Beast," Pietro began with a hint of sarcasm. "Do you think you could make a little adjustment to this shirt? You know, have a lightning strike going across or something. It'll give me more personality if you know what I mean." Pietro ended, noticing the other members were there, staring without a word.

"What is everybody gawking at!" Pietro yelled, getting impatient and irritated that they were all just standing there. "Hey Pietro," Kitty started off, "Are you like okay. Mr. McCoy told me what happened." "Of curse I'm okay. I can take a hit and get back up." He said sardonically.

Kitty couldn't help but to notice the new clothes. In her mind, she thought that he looked way better than he did before. All of a sudden she could feel the beating of her heart going faster and faster. Without her consent, her face went scarlet red and she turned away from everyone else so that they wouldn't notice. _Like, what's wrong with me? Am I sick or something?_ She said to herself, feeling her legs go numb.

Scott walked forward to Pietro. "So Maximoff. We all heard about your story and it was really nice of you to look after Kitty." he said stern before he continued. "But I still have to consider whether or not I should trust you." Scott said almost hostile. Pietro cut in before Scott could utter another word. "Listen here you one-eyed twerp! I don't trust anyone! So if you have a problem with trust, then the feeling is mutual!" Pietro shot back.

"Hey guys! Knock it off!" Jean intervened. "Look, I know we've all had some trouble with each other in the past. But today is now! And right now, Pietro isn't our enemy. So let's all put our differences and grudges aside because we have a real problem on our hand. It's like the professor said, we have to protect him like we would each other."

Pietro and Scott were at odds and everyone could see that. Bobby saw an advantageous situation and strolled over to the pair. "You know Pietro, If you really want a mutual feeling, then I'd be glad to knock you out the same way you did me." He said while punching his palm. "Bring it on Ice boy!" Pietro stated in an attacking stance.

Jubilee stood in front of Bobby, and Kitty stood in front of Pietro, blocking them from each other. "Guys! We're not getting anywhere like this!" Jubilee yelled. "Yeah like, get a grip!" Kitty yelled afterward.

Both of them eased out of their fighting stances and just scowled a look of scorn at each other. Hank didn't like the feeling they were casting an neither did the other members, so Hank stepped in between the scowling adolescents. "Pietro, if you're done here, then I would very much want to see just how well you maneuver in the new gear." "Oh, sure no problem." Pietro said a bit more calm.

"If you will follow me please." Hank instructed. Pietro stalled for a moment looking at the block of ice that was in the others' possession. "Hey uh, whatcha go there?" Pietro said while pointing his finger to the icy nugget.

Kitty answered. "Oh, that. Like, Jean, Scott, Bobby and Rogue totally thrashed Mystique in the kitchen. I think you were like, still out when everything happened." "You mean she's in there!" Pietro yelled in surprise. "Yeah, we were just taking her to the sub-basement where we could secure her and keep her from escaping." She explained. "So did you use the syringe?" "No, Rogue was pretty much a great help already." "But Mystique won't stay unconscious for too long. Don't you know she's the most craftiest person that's ever lived?! You gotta put her out for good!"

"Hey dude, my ice is strong enough to hold even the most craftiest person alive." Bobby insinuated. "Look, I've actually been around Mystique. And I don't mean when she's posing as someone else. You haven't seen her true colors. And if you are going to keep her frozen, then put her in some kind of liquid nitrogen or something – just to be safe." He explained seriously craven.

"Alright! Just to ease the tension." Scott said getting annoyed of Pietro's paranoia. "Mr. McCoy? Do you think you could help us with that?" Scott asked. Hank replied, "Sure thing. But first, I want to observe and survey just how well Pietro operates in the new clothing I invented." He reminded.

"Oh, is okay if I like, come along?" Kitty asked. "Because I think I've been around Mystique for far too long – if you know what I mean." "I suppose that would be okay." Beast agreed.

The three entered the training room while the others went elsewhere. Kitty and hank were in the control room watching Pietro get into a running position down below. The mechanisms in the training area were disrupt, but the it still had working cameras, a working stopwatch, and was big enough for Pietro to run a few laps. Hank operated the cameras while Kitty stood watch. "Alright, everything is all set and ready to go." Hank declared. "Kitty? Would you mind doing the honors of starting Pietro off?" Hank asked. "Sure." She said delightedly.

She fixed the headset on her head. "Alright Pietro, On your mark , get set , go!" Pietro shot off like a speeding bullet around the room. He moved so fast that it seemed as though he hadn't moved an inch. Kitty thought he was just standing there. "Uh, Pietro I said go." "I did go!" Pietro yelled irritated. "Then why are you like, still standing there?" "Use your eyes Pryde! Or maybe I'm just too quick for em'." He boasted.

"Why you no good..." Kitty was about to scream at him when Hank cut her off. "Pardon me Kitty. I understand that you may have been offended by Pietro's statement. But I assure you that he is in fact telling the truth. He is indeed much too fast for our eyes." Hank began to rewind the video.

He played it in slow-motion when Pietro was taking off. "There." Hank said pointing to Pietro. "We may have not seen him move, doesn't mean he didn't." He explained as the video showed Pietro in a blur. Kitty blinked her eyes rapidly. "So if you're playing this in slow-motion, how come it still looks like he's moving fast?" Kitty asked. "Because at his speed, the camera's slow-motion isn't enough to slow him down."

"Hey, B.M!" Pietro shouted up to Hank. "These change of clothes is really working out for me. Feels like I'm carrying no extra weight at all. And it does allow me to move freer that usual." He said amiably. "Excellent. I was enticed to find out how these new fabrics would work out for the others. And Pietro, you were the perfect test." Hank complimented. "And one more thing," Hank continued, "What does B.M stand for?" "It stands for Beast McCoy. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to call you, so I figured, why not not both? And there you have it." Pietro explained.

"You know, you're like, really weird." Kitty said to Pietro. "You mean like you? With all the 'likes' here and there and most of everywhere. Yeah, I'd say that you're the expert of 'weird' people Pryde." He shot back sardonically. "Why are you so touchy?!" Kitty yelled, getting frustrated. "I'm not touchy! You're the one whose touchy! Maybe you oughtta get checked for rabies or something. Don't worry about being late for your appointment Pryde, because I'll gladly escort you to the vet myself!" Pietro argued back.

Kitty was vexed by his words. "When I get through with you, you're going to eat those words Maximoff! You just better hope there's no room for dessert, be cause I'm gonna fill you up with sock-it-to-me cake!" She screamed turning crimson red. "Are you threatening me Pryde?! Because if you are, there's no way you can back up what you just said!" Pietro yelled back. "Oh yeah, then come up here and I'll prove it to you."

Hank tried to break up the heated exchange with the two mutants, but with no avail. Before they knew it, Pietro was in the control room where they were. He walked angrily over to Kitty. "Alright, I'm here! So prove it!" Pietro dared.

"Fine! All you have to do is stoop down so I can slap that stupid look off of your face!" Kitty shouted. Pietro stuck out his face, awfully close to hers. "'Here! Take your best shot!" Kitty was so tired of his audacious sarcasm and took a swing at him. Pietro knew she wasn't going to be able to hit him.

Kitty swung her fist and in return, she hit nothing but the air. Pietro moved out of the way and alluded her attack easily. "Was that really your best shot? Come on Pryde, you gotta do better than that!" He teased. Kitty grunted and began to grind her teeth. She took another vain swing. And then another, and another after that. Still, she could not lay a hand on him. "You know something Pryde, You're about the slowest person I think I've ever seen." Pietro teased.

"Okay, that's it! I'm going to wring your neck Maximoff!" She threatened again. "How are going to do that? You can't even touch me!"

Since Beast couldn't calm them down the civil way, he let out a loud and formidable roar. The sound startled them right out of their heated exchange of words. They both held their ears as the reverberation of his roar rebound in their heads. "Geez, say it don't scream it," Pietro complained while massaging the inside f his ears. Kitty was doing the same.

"I apologize. But it was the only other way I could get the both of you to cope. By all means, could you two enlighten me on how this disputation began?" Hank inquired. Neither one of them could give an answer as they had forgotten what it was they were arguing about. They both just stood across each other with their arms folded, snubbing each other.

Hank had no idea of what happened between them. They seemed to be on each others' good side at first and then somehow came to be at odds. "So, is there anything I could assist you with?" Hank asked Pietro. "Only one thing. Could you alter my shirt the way I described before?" He said with a little it of malice in his voice. Not toward Hank, But toward Kitty.

Kitty tuned her nose in the air and walked out of the control room with her arms still folded. Pietro was very vexed at this because the one thing he despised more than anything else, was being ignored. "Hey! Where do you think you're going Pryde?! You still didn't prove that you could back up what you said!" He shouted after her. Kitty kept on walking, disregarding anything he had to say.

Pietro became very unnerved at her actions and went after her. Hank just stood were he was, scratching his head in the midst of a disarray. "Now I really don't understand those two." He said to himself in a pondering tone.

Pietro zoomed in front of Kitty. "So what? You're giving me the silent treatment now? Is that how you're gonna solve this little issue?" He said swiftly while walking backwards in front of Kitty who was still walking forward. "Well, say something!" He began to get very impatient. Then he had the perfect solution. _The only way I can really get to her, is a cat joke._ He thought diabolically. "Say Katherine, You don't have to tell me why you're being so quiet because I already know why. It's because a cat got your tongue!" he snickered afterward.

Kitty stopped walking and balled up her fist. Pietro saw that he got under her skin. _Pryde, you are so easy._ He thought to himself. Kitty let out an exceptionally steaming grunt that would personify her as a boiling tea kettle. Out of the blue, she calmed down, unclenched her fists, and walked gently and kindly over to Pietro and laid a hand on his shoulder, much to his perplexity. "Pietro." She started off low and pleasant.

She walked closer to him while he walked backward, completely taken off guard by her sudden change of emotion. He knitted his eyebrows in confusion as she continued to walk toward him, almost as if she was trying to kiss him. She only stopped when his back met with the wall. Her hand that was placed on his shoulder, phased his body into the wall that he was in front of.

She let go of him once he was halfway in the wall. "Hey! What's the meaning this?! Pryde?!" He asked with a bit of confusion. Only then did Kitty continue what she was about to say. "You are the most...idiotic, ridiculous, clown-looking scumbag that I have ever seen in my life! And now that you're stuck in a wall, I'm going to back up my words you conceited jerk!" She balled her fist and prepared to launch with all her might. "Oh come On! I was just kidding. Y..You didn't take all of that serous did you? I didn't mean any of it! Honestly. And the thing about backing up your words, well forget I said that! Katherine?!...Katherine Please don't hurt me! I'm defenseless here! You don't want people to think you're unfair and cruel do you?!

By the way, did I ever tell you that you look really good when you're angry? Just...please...spare me! I won't say anything else. Really! Just...get me outta here!" Pietro ranted witty, quickly and cravenly.

It was in the middle of his pleas when Kitty lowered her fist and watched him beg and try to weasel his way out of his predicament. She thought it was cute the way he was begging for her to not hit him. "Okay Pietro. I'm going to let you off easy this time. But like, the next time, I won't!" She assured him. "So does this mean you've come to your senses?" He asked innocently with glossy eyes."Maybe. I'll think about it later. I'll get you out once I like, make up my mind." Kitty said flirtatious. "Wait a minute! You just can't leave me here! And I thought you cared!" Pietro yelled, wanting so badly to get free of the wall.

He tried to pull out with all of his strength, but failed miserably. Kitty had left him there alone. "Oh come on! Katherine! Katherine will ya give me a break! After all I've done for you, this is how you repay me?! Some thanks I get!" He yelled to an absent Kitty.

Pietro didn't care whether or not his efforts were in vain, he continued to jitter. Faster and faster did he jitter, until at last, he was free. Once he was out, he looked behind him and saw that the wall was still in one piece. He looked from left to right to see of Kitty had came back and released him. However the halls were empty and he was the only one there. "Katherine?" he said casually, making sure she wasn't there. He walked over to the wall and rubbed the surface. "Hmm, how did I get out of there?" He questioned himself out loud.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a sharp thud above the ceiling. It felt like the earth was rumbling, like an earthquake. Kitty had just walked back to where Pietro was standing, bewildered. "Hey did you feel that?" Kitty asked with a look of concern. "Yeah. Do you think it may be Lance and the others?" he questioned.

It took a moment for Kitty to notice something. "Huh? Pietro? How did you get out here, when I like, left you in there?" she said pointing to the wall. "How am I supposed to know? I was wondering the same thing until I felt the ground shaking." Pietro responded calmly.

The turbulence was felt again. This time, Hank came out to see what was going on. They all exchanged a look of concern before they ran to the elevator. Once the elevator opened, they ran to the anteroom where the other members were standing, also wondering where the quakes were coming from. Then they all hearkened the sound of Mystique's phone ringing in the kitchen.

Pietro zoomed in there to retrieve it. The caller I.D was unknown. He kind of figured who'd be calling her. He ran back where everyone else was and handed the phone to Rogue. "Here Rogue, _you_ have to be the one who answers the phone." he insisted. "Why do ah have to be the one to do it." She questioned his irrational suggestion. "Because _this_ phone belongs to Mystique. Mystique is posing as you. So either way, you could talk to Magneto as Rogue or as Mystique." He explained. "What do ya mean as Mystique?" She asked in confusion.

Jean answered her question, figuring out what Pietro was talking about. "I think he means you could answer the phone as Mystique since you touched her and absorbed her powers and memories. We can't be the one to do it. Besides, we need to know what's going to happen next." Jean explained.

Rogue agreed and then morphed into Mystique before answering the phone. "Is there a problem?" Rogue answered the phone with the voice of Mystique. "Only one. And that problem is Pietro. The X men may already know of your infiltration at the institute so I'm asking you to abort Kitty's abduction and await on the others' arrival." Magneto ordered. "Others? Who?" She asked again. "I'm sending in the remaining acolytes along with the Juggernaut.

There is a slight chance that the real Rogue may be there along with Gambit, if possible. Be on the look out." Magneto explained and then hung up the phone.

Rogue hung up the phone and then morphed back to her normal self. She displayed a look of fear, concern, and anxiety. "So what did he say?" Pietro asked, zealous to know. Rogue turned to him slowly. No one liked the look Rogue was giving. "He knows about you Pietro." She said in a low and creepy tone. She continued. "He's sending the acolytes here. **And** the Juggernaut."

The whole room was filled with an empty silence. Pietro was horrified to know that his father learned of his treason. But he wasn't the only one to feel that way. Everyone was carrying the same feeling. The silence was interrupted by the quakes again.

Everyone walked outside to find Lance, Toad, And Blob storming their way toward the mansion. The quakes came from Lance and the others destroying the mansion's defenses. "Come on Out Kitty! I need to have a few words with you!" He demanded in a rough tone. Kitty was standing behind everyone else at first, but she made her way to the front when she heard Lance calling her out.

"Lance, like, what are you doing here?!" She yelled to him. "What am I doing here?! The question is; What were you doing with Pietro?!" he asked angrily and annoyed. "Pietro?" she questioned. "Don't play dumb! Magneto was kind enough to stop by and tell all of us just what you two have been up to. You lied to me earlier! You were just trying to get Pietro to sneak off with you and do who knows what!"

Scott spoke up next, "Turn around Alvers. There's no way you and friends are going to be able to beat us!" "Shut up four-eyes! No one was talking to you! I was talking to Kitty, so butt out!" he commanded. Scott was getting ready to blast him when Kitty stood in front of him.

"Wait a minute Scott. I want to find out why Lance is here!" She said loud enough for Lance to hear her. "You wanna know what I'm doing here? Fine! I just wanted to know what you two were really taking about! Probably how stupid I was, right?! That I'm easy to fool? So I have one more question for you; where is Pietro, since you two have become so close?!"

Pietro stood up for himself. "You looking for me Lancey boy! Well, here I am! And if you got something to say about me, then go ahead an say it!" "Ay yo! It's Pietro! Hey Lance, I thought you were just coming here for Kitty." Toad stated the obvious.

"Don't you think I know that Toad!" Lance said with a hostile attitude. "And I did come here for Kitty, I just didn't think I'd find that backstabber here!" "Who are you calling a backstabber?! You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into! So I suggest you stop while you're ahead before someone gets hurt! Or maybe even killed!" Pietro defended himself. "That 'someone' is going to be you Pietro! Who knew you were going to be the one to join the X creeps?! Especially at a time like this! What makes you think they're going to do you a good service?!" Lance questioned with force behind his voice.

Pietro grunted. "The kind of service that I'm looking forward to is saving my sister! And if I have to bend over backwards to achieve that goal then you better believe that's exactly what I'm going to do! I made my decisions for a reason! I wasn't going to tell any of you because I knew you'd criticize me and rat me out!

And if I got ratted out, then I wouldn't have made it this far to keep my sister safe!" "Safe?!" Lance mocked. "If you think she's safe because of you, then she's not! Magneto went off to find her when he got here. And did I forget to mention that she wasn't in the safety of the house when he arrived?" Lance taunted.

Pietro gasped. "Why did you let her leave?! You heard me telling her she could be in danger!" He argued back, losing his patience with Lance. "Why did _I _let her leave? You were the one who left when you decided you rather have the X geeks' help over ours!" "Then why don't you help now and call this whole thing off!" Pietro said, trying his best to convince them otherwise. "What whole thing? You mean, the opportunity of us ruling the world in our own fashion? That's a lot of power Pietro! I just can't understand why you have to oppose!

Magneto told us all about it! How mutants no longer have to cower at the hands of mankind!"

"Magneto told you what he wants you to think! He doesn't mean any of that stuff! He's just upset because I don't want to follow his rules anymore! He's doing nothing more than using you like a bunch of puppets! Just like he's done with Mystique, like he's done with Wanda, like me, and the rest of all of you!

Wanda was right! He wasn't doing this for any of us! He's doing this for his own selfish reasons! Why do you think he kept his plan hidden from all of us?! If he truly wanted us to be a part of this, then he would have invited us into his little plan a long time ago! He doesn't trust us with anything! We were just decoys all the way along! That project on asteroid M was just the beginning. He was planning on taking over mankind with the strongest of mutants!

And if I can remember correctly, Toad wasn't invited! And after the dispute, he probably already figured it would be too risky to trust anyone with the position he gives to them! You saw what happened when he gave too much power to Shades over here." He gestured to Scott, who was annoyed by the nick name.

Pietro continued, "I'm trying to give all of you guys a heads up and you'll be stupid enough to go against me! And just so you know, if you really cared about Katherine that much, then you'd help protect her like I'm protecting my sister because she's in just as much danger as Wanda!" he beckoned to Kitty.

Lance was getting irritated, "You mean the same way she was supposedly protecting me from you! She's a liar and I know that now!" Kitty didn't like his response. "A liar?! Just so you know Lance, I lied because of the given circumstances! It was for Wanda's own good and mine too!" She retorted. "Why would Wanda be in any danger?!" Lance asked at the absurdity.

"Yeah? Why would Wanda be in danger yo?" Toad asked. Kitty tried to reason with him. "Because Magneto wants to use Wanda's powers to alter reality. If she uses too much of her power, she won't survive the task that Magneto wants her to do." "Ya mean, Wanda won't make it? As in, gone forever?" Toad asked with worry. "Yes. Do you really want her to get hurt? All Pietro is trying to do is prevent everything from happening so Wanda can live." Toad took a minute. "So, if he's trying to save Wanda, then I guess I should help." Toad said giving in.

"Don't listen to her Toad! If she lied to me, then of course she's going to lie to you!" Lance ordered. "No one is Lying Lance! Don't you get it?! He's depending on all of us to help save his sister!"

"Then how come he couldn't trust us to do it!" Fred asked, still angry that Pietro betrayed them. "No offense Blob,"Pietro answered, "But how could any of you possibly help me find out what my father was up to? You're too big and there was no way I could cross the Atlantic with you on my back! Lance over there was already getting on my nerves to begin with, and Todd, you're too loud. Not exactly the person with the element of surprise.

I needed someone who could be quiet and get me in at the same time." He explained. "So you used Kitty?!" Lance yelled. "Who else was I supposed to get? You? I'm sorry, but using a landslide to get us in would definitely have definately been out of the question! As a matter if fact, you wouldn't have came anyway because you're so busy trying to make me out to be some crying child who needs their parents every hour of the day!" "You got that right! But I have to hand it to your old man. He's got style.

I'm so sick and tired of retaining this mutant hideout thing day in an day out. If the world wants to reveal the mutants, then we're going to reveal ourselves as the rulers of this planet!" Kitty was surprised at his horrendous answer. "Lance?! Are you like, listening to yourself? All of this power over mankind has really gone to your head!" She screamed at him.

"Nothing has gone to my head! Mutants are superior than ordinary humans. I'm just agreeing with the way that things should be. We're way stronger and the strongest deserves to reign supreme! Those humans are going to regret the day they tried to pick a fight with us mutants!" he ended coldly and heartless.

Pietro could see a similarity between Lance and his father. That disgusted him. "I guess I can say who's daddy's little boy is, huh Lance? You're willing to put Katherine in harm's way just so you can take up the phony proposition Magneto promised! And I thought you were smarter than that!" Pietro taunted. Lance grimaced with extreme anger. "I've had enough of this chattering! I came here to exchange a few words with Kitty! But since you're here Pietro, I suppose I have the best of both worlds. We're going to capture you and turn you in!" "Oh yeah, you and what army?"

Just then, the orbs that were carrying the acolytes and the Juggernaut landed on the mansion grounds. "Ah think that's the army you were askin' about." Rouge said shrewdly. The orbs opened, letting out the villains one by one. The juggernaut was the first to speak. "Which one of you is Pietro Django Maximoff?" he said murderously.

Lance pointed to the white-haired mutant. "That one, right there." "Lance you low-life!" Pietro yelled at him. "you're the low-life Pietro! A worm who's willing to put himself before his team!" Lance shot back.

Toad cut in, "So don't you think we should help Wanda?" Todd asked. "You heard the man!" Lance yelled at Todd. "Magneto was right! Pietro does think we're pathetic. If he really wanted you to help Wanda, then he would have asked for our help a long time ago, don't you think?!" N_ot that I'd help him anyway. Not after what he did to me! _Lance thought to himself immediately afterward, reminiscing the time Pietro Punched him in the eye. It was his way of getting back at Pietro. Todd frowned. "You know what? You're right Lance. If he doesn't like us, then I don't like him neither." Toad agreed, unaware that Lance used reverse psychology on him.

The confrontation was cut short as the Juggernaut charged toward Pietro. The X men all ran in front of him to keep him covered. "You do know I can take care of myself right?" Pietro said, offended by the protection of the other X men. Scott answered. "This isn't the time to rebuttal Pietro. This isn't just about you! It's about all of us and the risks we have to take for each other! If you really want to save your sister, then stop being self-centered and work together. In this institute it's all for one or none of us at all!"

Pietro had to make sense of it for his own sake. "Alright fine! I'll play by your rules!" He agreed as the Juggernaut kept charging toward them. As the juggernaut ran, the others: Toad, Blob, Lance, Pyro, Colossus, and Sabretooth charged as well. With a full moon high in the night's sky, a big battle was soon to be engaged.


	9. Chapter 9

While a battle was about to erupt at the X mansion, Magneto was off searching for Wanda, while she was searching for Pietro. Wanda was in town, going places where she thought she might be able to find her brother. She tried to figure her brother inside and out to get a clue of where he might have gone.

She checked at the arcade, but he wasn't there since it was about to close down. She walked down the empty sidewalks, and meandered the corner where she found her father, waiting for her. "Huh? Father? What are you doing here?" She asked astonished at his sudden presence. "Wanda, I hear that you're looking for Pietro." he said in his casual voice. "Well, yeah I am. Do you know where he is?" Wanda asked, hoping that her father knew where he was.

"Yes. If you follow me, I will lead you to him." He said beguilingly. Wanda was relieved and went with her father. Magneto was not yet informed of Pietro's capture. He was beginning to think that Pietro just might be a little too much for the brotherhood to handle. So he devised a win-win scenario to have Wanda walk straight into his hands and have Pietro face the consequences of his treachery.

Magneto and Wanda glided through the air. He led them down to the shores of New York. "Is he here?" Wanda asked. "You appear to be worried about Pietro. Tell me, how did you come to be in this much despair?" Magneto asked, feigning knowledge and concern. "Well," Wanda started melancholic "ever since yesterday, he's been acting really weird. I don't know how to explain it, but he told me this evening that he was trying to protect me from something. He never said what it was. All I know is, I can handle myself. He knows that, but he still feels as though he has to help me." She explained bleakly.

Magneto placed an assuring hand on her shoulder. "No need to worry anymore. I'm sure he's fine now. And whatever this 'something' is, then I'd be sure to assist you. But for now, I need you to relax. Pietro will come to you, and when he does, he'll come to me." he spoke in a very sinister tone, just before Mastermind emerged from the shadows.

Wanda gazed at the awry stranger. She tensed as he came closer to her. "Relax Wanda. This man here will help dissolve the stresses you are dealing with." Magneto spoke as Mastermind held both sides of Wanda's temple. Wanda's face was filled with discombobulation as the man gripped her head firmly. "you'll find that you no longer have to worry about Pietro, when in fact, he has to worry about you." Magneto ended ominously.

Mastermind began projecting false memories in her head. He projected time when she and Pietro would constantly fight against each other. How he'd constantly remind her that he was their father's favorite. The jealousy he had for her and her powers. How he tried to terminate her when he thought that she was their father's favorite. How he tried to terminate their father for having a stronger bond with her. How Magneto stepped in to prevent Pietro from hurting her. Etc.

As those false memories filled her head, she began to feel nothing but malice and hatred for her brother. He powers were fueled by the rage boiling inside of her. Every time an image of Pietro's face flashed in her mind, she grimaced in anger.

When the process was complete, Wanda fainted. When she awakened a few minutes later, she woke with a whole new agenda. She was going to find Pietro and confront him. "Where is he?!" She shouted with rage. "Take it easy Wanda. You'll find him. But first, we have some place to be as of now. Perhaps we could obtain some information on the X men." he spoke with sheer vengeance.

Magneto beckoned to Mastermind that his service was complete. He then took Wanda by the hand and glided off to the X mansion.

At the X Mansion

The Juggernaut was making his way toward Pietro and Kitty. Lance was making his way to Scott; Pyro to Bobby; Sabretooth to Logan; Blob to Rogue and Jean; Toad to Kurt; Colossus to Gambit. Mutant powers were erupting from left and right.

As the Juggernaut charged at both Kitty and Pietro, they waited for the perfect opportunity to run out of the Juggernauts way. When that opportunity came, Pietro ducked out of the Juggernaut's path and Kitty phased through him; allowing him to crash into the mansion walls.

Since Colossus had his metallic skin engaged, Gambit used his metal pole that was charged with kinetic energy. Gambit knew Colossus's speed wasn't as great as his strength, so he used it against him. Whenever colossus threw a punch, Gambit eluded it and swung at him. When the pole made contact, the force of kinetic energy coming from Gambit's pole was of ten hits at once.

Logan and Sabretooth battled it out as they always did. Sabretooth leaped at Logan; he missed and Logan ceased the opportunity to kick him away. However, Sabretooth landed on his feet and leaped at Logan again. They exchanged punches, almost evenly matched.

Hank thought he could even things up by helping out. Logan and Hank double-teamed Sabretooth. He had a hard time escaping the two mutants so he faked them out by pretending to flee behind a tree. Logan and Hank ran after him. Since Hank was the fastest, He reached the tree where Sabretooth was hiding. As he came closer, Sabretooth jumped out in front of him and hit him with a large branch.

Hank landed inside one of the metallic spheres that the Acolytes arrived in. Logan was charging toward Sabretooth with all his might. Sabretooth stood there and then jumped out of the way, causing Logan's adamantium skull to hit the sphere with Hank inside. The impact caused the sphere to roll towards the cliff. There, it lingered.

Blob charged at Rogue and Jean. Jean used her telekinesis to halt him from charging and held him in the air for Rouge to touch him with no problem. After having his power absorbed, he was weakened and Jean used her abilities to throw him against the fountain that was in the center of the yard. The impact caused him to pass out completely.

Now that Blob was down and out, Rogue and Jean looked around to see who else they could assist. "Ah think Kitty and Pietro needs a little help ova' there." Rogue pointed out. She and Jean ran to their aid.

Kitty and Pietro held out against the Juggernaut by remaining out of his reach. "Why is this guy targeting me?! What did I ever do to him?!" Pietro inquired with irritation and confusion. "Ah don't know, but ah'm about to find out!" Rogue said as she came to their rescue.

She slid the glove off of her hand. Jean used her powers to push the Juggernaut away. She knew her powers wouldn't be enough to withhold him. "Pietro! I could use some help here!" Jean called to him. Pietro got on the job. Jean kept the Juggernaut still enough so Pietro could create a whirlwind around him. He had to move as fast as possible to make the winds strong enough to hold him up.

Next, Kitty jumped in the whirlwind. It carried her up to where the Juggernaut was. Jean guided Kitty over to him safely. Kitty made contact with his helmet and she phased it off. Pietro ceased the winds. The Juggernaut came down with a large crash while Kitty landed in Pietro's arms.

Rogue went over to the Juggernaut and touched his face. She absorbed as much energy as possible. When she was done, she gasped at the memories she had taken from him.

The Juggernaut still had some fight left. He was a bit dizzy from Pietro's winds so he had a hard time telling what was what. But his daze soon cleared as he spotted the white-haired boy. He charged at him and Rogue countered, knocking him away. "Jean! You're the only one who has a mind like the professor's! Ya have to use ya powers to disable him!" Rogue yelled. The Juggernaut was worn down enough for her to pull it off. She began sending waves of telepathy through him. He grimaced in pain while his mind was being suppressed.

Since Jean's power is much greater than the professor's, she used more force in which she unintentionally made a nervous disconnection in the Juggernaut's brain, disabling him for good. The amount of energy she used caused her faint.

Pyro was having it out with Bobby. Bobby threw a few ice blasts and Pyro threw some heat blasts. "You know what they say mate. If it's too hot, then ya betta' get outta the kitchen!" Pyro mocked Bobby's ice powers. Bobby was breaking a sweat, trying his hardest not to become overpowered by Pyro. Robert de Costa saw that Bobby needed help, so he pitched in, despite the fact that he had little experience in the battlefield. "It may be too hot for him. But it's not for me! How 'bout we fight fire with fire!" He challenged. "You're on!" pyro replied like a wild maniac.

Robert threw hot blasts at him. Pyro only manipulated the fire that Robert threw at him and turned them against him. He formed a fiery horse and it charged at Roberto. Bobby stepped in and cooled things down by making an icy barrier. The horse ran into the cool wall and both objects fizzled away, creating a large amount of water vapor.

The mist clouded the view of Bobby and Robert. All they saw was a glow. That glow came closer and revealed it self to be a fiery, rampaging bull. Their reactions were too slow and the bull bulldozed into them, knocking them out.

More students began to pitch in to help win the battle. Jubilee,Tabitha, and pinball. Storm and the professor could see that the other students needed help defeating their foes. So they hurried to the door to make it downstairs.

Since Storm could fly, she made it out faster. The professor was rolling his wheelchair to the door when it slammed on him. His chair lifted from the ground and was thrown against the wall with him in it. He crashed on the ground from the impact, but was still conscious. The windows suddenly flew opened harshly. Subsequently breaking the glass. Magneto glided in with Wanda by his side.

The professor gaped at the sight. Magneto smiled a sinister smile and spoke, "I cannot let you go out there Charles. You must not be seen." "What are you doing Magnus?!" The professor demanded an answer. "I'm simply here to stop you and your pesky school from plunging a fork in my plans. I never wanted anyone to know what I was doing. But unfortunately, Pietro decided to take it upon himself to gain information that was not meant for him, which ensued in my having to do this." He explained with a malignant tone.

"Can't you see that you're pushing your own son away from you?! Pietro wasn't trying to bring anyone harm. In fact, he was only trying to save a life that is very dear to him and that should be dear to you as well!" The professor tried to yell some sense into him. He continued, "How could you be so ignorant of your own son's pleas?! Why would you risk one of your own just to make a difference?! A difference that we don't need!"

"How could you say this is a difference we don't need!" Magneto raged. "We mutants should be the ones who are superior! Not the ones cowering every day of our lives, hoping the world will give us a fair chance! If you want respect in this world, you have to take it! And that's what I'm doing." He ended viciously.

"You're making a mistake Magnus! You don't know the extent of Wanda's powers! You may want to reshape the world, but how will you know that reality will be reshaped in your image?" The professor rebutted. "It is like I've said before Charles, I'm a realist. And being that I **am** a realist, I'm going to make my thoughts become a reality." Magneto declared.

"Are you willing to give up the life of..." Before Charles could finish, Magneto wrapped his mouth with pieces of metal from his wheelchair. Afterward, he spoke "Listen Charles, I'm willing to give up anything just to balance out this chaotic place. Mutants no longer have to struggle with everyday life. Being tortured and ousted.

You will soon come to realize that there are many who would gladly assist me in helping the unfair circumstances that we face. What you can't seem to understand Charles, is that you're stripping mutants from a normal life.

What a mutant wants more than anything else, is to be looked at as someone and not something. You'll be denying them of this privilege by stopping me. Let me carry on in my plans, or I will be forced to do it he hard way."

While Charles was on the ground, helpless, he was trying to warn Wanda telepathically of what was to come to past. _Listen to me Wanda, I know you probably won't believe me when I tell you this, but I assure you that whatever you hold in you memory, they are false. You have to help your brother! What your father is doing isn't right. You have to fight against him Wanda! He plans on using you to..._

Before Charles could fully explain himself, Magneto caught sight of Charles using his telepathy on Wanda. He used his powers to make the wheelchair squeeze him, breaking his concentration. "You're still up to your old mind tricks, Charles." Magneto stated. "Don't even think about poisoning her against me. She knows what I'm doing is right! And she knows why we're here! And together, we are going to achieve this nearly impossible goal!" Magneto spoke with determination as the chair squeezed the professor into unconsciousness.

The Battle

Scott was trying his best to get a good aim at Avalanche. But the frequent moving of the ground threw him off balance and concentration. "what's the matter Cyclops! Is your world a little too rocky for you to function!" Avalanche teased in a menacing tone. Cyclops, getting tired of Avalanche's audacious speeches, took another shot. It was off balance, but it managed to hit Avalanche in the shoulder. "Oh, that is it! Take this you four-eyed freak!" Lance yelled to him. He used more of his powers to shake the ground more violently. A wave of turbulence whipped through the ground and flung Cyclops in the air. His glasses flew off elsewhere.

Scott couldn't open his eyes to see his target. Avalanche knew he would have an advantage over Cyclops should he be without his glasses. Jubilee detested the unfair situation and intervened. "Say your prayers Summers because you're about to get squashed!" Lance yelled. Before he could muster up enough energy for massive earthquake, Jubilee hit him in the back with her plasma rays.

Lance whirled around to see where the attack came from. All he was met with was a shoe to the face. Jubilee kicked him directly in the face with her right foot, and then kicked him again with her left foot that was charged with plasmic energy. "And that my dear foe, is called the Jubilation!" She said enthusiastically while he flew across the room.

Jubilee then ran over to give Scott his glasses back.

Kurt was fighting off Toad. The pair of them kept slipping from each others' grip. "Hold still you fuzzy fool!" Toad yelled after him. "I may be fuzzy, but I'm not some slimy toad like you!" Kurt shot back. Toad got angry at his remark and shot out his tongue. Kurt caught with his hands and tried to yank Toad towards him. But the rest of Toad's tongue wrapped itself around Kurt's hand and instead, snatched Kurt towards him.

Toad kicked Kurt away. Before Kurt hit the wall, he teleported. Toad didn't know where the blue mutant went. All he felt was a tap on the shoulder. "Huh?" Toad wondered who was tapping him. He turned around and met Kurt's fist, followed by a right kick in the gut, and a tail grab around the waist where Kurt teleported in the air and slung Toad down to the ground. Toad was down and out.

Colossus was still dealing with Gambit. Gambit tried to take another swing at colossus with his staff, but colossus caught the stick and slung Gambit into the wall. He then took the staff and broke it in half and threw it aside. He sauntered over to Gambit and held him up by the collar. Just as he was about to take a swing, pinball flew into him, causing him to drop Gambit.

Pinball was accompanied by Tabitha. "Alright big man, let's dance!" Tabitha yelled. Colossus stampeded over to them. Tabitha released her psionic energy spheres in the air. They exploded in front of Colossus's face, blinding him. Pinball launched himself at him and Colossus crashed into a nearby tree.

Although Colossus took a hard hit, he wasn't done yet. He rubbed his eyes, trying to regain his vision. When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, but the light from Tabitha's psionic spheres and Gambit's cards were visible enough. They exploded by his feet which made him lose his footing. He stammered backwards and Pinball hit him again. This time, instead of Colossus hitting the tree, he flew in the air and crashed on top of Blob, who was trying get up from his earlier battle.

Colossus's weight and metallic body knocked him out again followed by himself. Tabitha, Gambit and Pinball gave each other a three-way high five.

Gambit turned around to see Logan still struggling in his fight with Sabretooth. Logan kicked Sabretooth to the opposite side of the lawn. Sabretooth made it back on his feet and both feral mutants clashed with each other. They both gave each other a blow that knocked them out in two different directions. Sabretooth made it back to his feet before Logan did.

He saw that Logan was still down and took advantage. As he was charging at Logan, Gambit stepped in and used his trench coat like a Matador's cape. The coat blocked Sabretooth's view and Logan kicked him in the air. Gambit picked up one side of his severed stick and used it like a bat. "Batter up!" Gambit yelled. Sabretooth was the baseball and he swung at him, knocking him out.

Gambit walked over to where Sabretooth landed. "Ah do believe that this is mine ." He said while taking his jacket that covered Sabretooth's face. When he turned around, he saw Logan scowling at him. Remy raised a brow. Logan walked over to him slowly. He stuck out his hand to shake Remy's. Gambit smirked and then shook Logan's hand. "Not bad Cajun. Not bad." Logan gave him gratitude in his own way.

Storm made her way down to see Pyro fighting with Scott and Jubilee. Scott and Jubilee both tried to blast Pyro, but he kept deflecting their attacks with his fire in the shape of a shield. "Aw, come on. I was so sure you X men had betta' fight than this!" Pyro teased.

Storm created a raincloud over Pyro's head. The water from the rain put out his fire. "Aw, crud!" Pyro yelled disgustedly. Scott and Jubilee thrashed him with their powers combined. Pyro was only seconds from a total knock out, so Storm did the honors by hitting him with a lightning strike.

All of the X men had successfully defeated their opponents. Or so they thought. Jean, Bobby, and Robert were out. Gambit, Logan, and Scott were spent.

Rogue, Kitty, Pietro, Kurt, Jubilee, and Storm all stood along side each other. Over yonder, Hank managed to come to and climb his way out of the sphere. But he had to mind how he climbed out as the sphere was only a few inches from falling. Hank gingerly used his weight to make the sphere roll backwards, away from the cliff. Once it was safe enough, he climbed out.

When he looked back at the mansion, he saw how disastrous it was. What caught his attention was the professor's window. The windows were busted and that was the last place he remembered the professor being.

He used the rest of his energy to climb the trees the led up to the window. When he was up, he saw the professor lying on the ground, intertwined with the wheelchair's metallic parts. "Professor?" Hank called out to him. He got no response. He then forced the metal off of the professor, thus freeing him. He took up the professor's comatose body and sat him in one of the office chairs.

He was just about to go back out with the others until he caught a glimpse of the syringe that was lying on the professor's desk. He darted over to it and grabbed it. "I hope this makes some kind of difference." He said to himself out loud before jumping out of the window.

He met with the others just as Magneto emerged from the sky. "Magneto!" Pietro called to him with rage and malice in his voice. "Ah, Pietro. I see you're still standing, standing against me that is! Tell me, why can't you ever be patient?! Everything was going perfectly! This world could have been ours and I was seconds away from achieving it! Why?!" Magneto yelled back to him. "Because I'd rather have a world with my sister than without her! And you're selfish enough to give her to me one moment and then take her right back! And then you were going to make me forget that I even had a sister after it was all over?! What kind of a father does that?!" Pietro yelled back. "It was a sacrifice for us all Pietro!" Magneto debated. "Well it wasn't a sacrifice that I was willing to make! And I'm thankful for my impatient attitude otherwise I never would have seen you for who you really were!

You don't care about anyone but yourself! This isn't about making the world safer for mutants! This is about you making humans the minority and mutants the majority while you're ruler of it all! I see through your facade! You may have fooled me all the other times, but you're not fooling me this time!" Pietro presented the scorn he had for his father.

Magneto was growing dangerously furious at his son's remarks. "Pietro! I've given you chance after chance to think rationally. Don't you see what I'm trying to do for you! I would never hurt you Pietro!" Magneto said, trying to win Pietro over.

"That's not true!" Rogue shouted. "Ya wanna know why the Juggernaut was after ya tonight?" She said speaking to Pietro. "It was because Magneto told him that ya terminated the professor so the Juggernaut would come after you instead!"

"This is precisely why you were my first victim!" Magneto cried out with rage, figuring that they somehow brought down Mystique. Pietro squinted his eyes in a devious manner. "Don't wanna hurt me huh? Well it looks like to me like that's what you were planning on! Lance even told me that he was going to capture me and then turn me in to you! Then you send the Juggernaut?!

Sounds like you want my head on a pedestal! So now that you find out that I survived your deadly game of torture, you figured you'd try to sweet-talk me over! How low can you go?! And now that I see it, you're spineless! As a matter of fact, you're pathetic!" Pietro shouted in disgust.

Magneto detested Pietro's rebellion and attitude. "I was thinking about giving you another chance, but since you insist on having things go this way, you left me with no choice. Magneto brought forth Wanda by controlling the metal discus she was standing on.

Pietro along with everyone else opened their mouth's in shock and disbelief. "Wanda?!" Pietro called with concern. "Pietro." She said harshly cruel and indifferent. He couldn't understand why she had called his name in that way. Before he knew it, Wanda was using her hex powers to pick Pietro up and sling him against the mansion's walls.

Magneto used the metal from the metallic spheres that were lying around to trap the remaining X men in a giant sphere. Of course the attempt was futile since Everyone made contact with Kitty and she phased them all out. "Of course." Magneto said with disgust.

Wolverine, Gambit, Hank and Storm went after Magneto. Scott, Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, and Jubilee went after Wanda.

Wolverine of course, was made out of metal, so Magneto used Wolverine's body like a wrecking ball, crashing him into Hank. The blow from Wolverine made Hank drop the syringe on the ground. After Hank, Magneto tried to make wolverine crash into Storm and Gambit. They ducked out of his way.

Storm gathered strong winds to stir up the pile of bad guys and threw them at Magneto. Since none of them were made of metal, albeit colossus is but he wasn't in his metal form, he was unable to block all of them at once. While he was able to dodge a few, hew wasn't able to dodge all of them as Blob, Lance, and Sabretooth crashed into him, knocking him out of the air. Logan was set free of his magnetic grip.

Meanwhile, Scott was trying his best to get a shot at Wanda. Wanda diverted his laser attack toward Jubilee. The blast went through Jubilee as Kitty made contact with her and phased the blast through her. "Well this is a bit of deja vu." Jubilee said. Kitty didn't have time to laugh so she only smirked for a few seconds.

Kurt tried teleporting, but he soon found that he had teleported inside the mansion. "Aw man!" He tried teleporting again, but found himself in the air as he had teleported above Rogue. Wanda then made Rogue's glove come off, so when Kurt fell on her, he made contact with her skin, therefore causing Kurt to black out. "Aw Kurt! Ah am so sorry!"

Even though Wanda was countering the X men attacks, she was seeking her brother's blood on her hands. "I'm going to put an end to you Pietro. You thought you could get away after all you've done, but you're not going to!" She yelled. "What are you talking about Wanda?! What did Magneto do to you?!" He asked nervously while in a disarray. "You tried to take our father's life just because you were insecure!" She yelled with accusation. "wait a minute what are you talking about?!" he asked quickly.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" She demanded "But that's the thing, I don't know what you're talking about! You know what never-mind. Forget that I said that. Whatever it is that I've done, then I'm terribly sorry. So can we put that aside for now and get back on good terms?" He ended with an unnerved smile.

Wanda only became more infuriated. "What's up with your sister?" Scott asked. "How am I supposed to know? One minute she's worried about me and the next she wants to murder me! I think Magneto did something to her. It's just like the time she was mad at him, he some how got her to be on good terms with him.

If you ask me, I think he did the same thing again, but this time, she's not on good terms with me." Pietro explained. "You mean this has happened before?" Scott inquired, the pair of them standing side by side in attack mode. "Yeah." Pietro answered in a duh tone.

As Wanda came closer, Kitty, Rogue and Jubilee stood by them. Wanda waved her hands and all kinds of destruction started to take place. The water pipes from underneath the ground began to rise up. She broke the pipes with her powers and began flinging them at the X members. Scott skillfully deflected them with his blasts. It then started to pour down raining.

Jubilee tried her hardest to hit Wanda with her plasma blast, But it wasn't helping. Kitty tried her best to phase so the pipes would go through her, but Wanda canceled out her intangibility. She had no choice but to run away from them. However, Wanda used her powers to keep Kitty in one place. "How is she using her powers on all of us at one time!" Kitty screamed in frustration.

Just as she was about to get hit by a long metal pipe, Pietro zoomed in and moved her out of the way. That only made Wanda even angrier. "Look Wanda! I don't wanna fight you!" Pietro shouted as he placed Kitty down. Wanda wasn't buying it. "You fought with me all of the other times! Why is this one any different?" She yelled.

Before Peitro answered, she took hold of him with her hex abilities and began to lift him off the ground. He was trying his best to break from her grip, but couldn't. She threw him aside where he landed near the fight that was with Magneto.

Magneto was on the verge of losing. Storm had surrounded them in a large puddle water. Since Magneto had the power over metal, she was using the water to create a great conductor for lightning. Magneto however, didn't notice. Gambit served as a result to get Magneto to use metal. He was in hand-to-hand combat, which he managed to overpower him in.

It was made to make Magneto have no choice but to use metal in his defense; which he did eventually. He glided from the ground to evade Gambit. "You'll pay for your impudence Gambit!" Magneto threatened. As soon as he lifted a metal object, Storm released a massive lightning strike that was conducted through the metal, and then spread to the water that was covering his body. He screamed in agony as he was stuck down.

He fell down to the ground in the halfway flooded yard. The small flood allowed Pietro to see the syringe that was floating in the water. He took hold of it and struggled to his feet. While he was there witnessing his father's defeat, Scott and Jubilee released plasma and laser rays, which Wanda used against them. She split the rays into many and fashioned the rays into daggers of plasmic energy and sent it back at them. It was so many that it was nearly impossible to evade. Some of them hit Scott and knocked him out.

Rogue tried to use Kurt's ability to teleport to get to her, but it was vain. Wanda made her teleport at the edge of the cliff. She tried to teleport again, but found herself in the same spot. Wanda wouldn't let her go anywhere else.

Some of the energy daggers she made from Scott and Jubilee's blasts were still at hand and headed after Kitty and Jubilee. Kitty tried to phase them underground to get away. Once again, Wanda canceled her intangibility. She had only phased them halfway in the flooded ground when her powers canceled. Wanda sent the energy daggers at them with full force.

"Hey Wanda, you didn't forget about me did you?!" Pietro yelled catching her attention. All of her attention went to him that her powers let go of Rogue, Kitty and Jubilee. The energy daggers diminished into thin air. Kitty and Jubilee were able to come out of the ground. Kitty sighed a breath of relief.

Pietro began running around, purposely wanting himself to get caught in her chaotic grip. Wanda did exactly what he wanted her to do. She used her powers to grip his legs and retained him from running. She then began to pressure his legs, threatening to break them as well as fracture his pelvis. It was painful and Pietro tried to think straight rather than concentrate on the pain.

His legs might have been bound together, but his arms were still free. Wanda spoke with nothing but pure cruelty, "I'm going to put an end to you Pietro! Once and for all!" She screamed, her powers growing. Pietro grimaced in pain. He managed to retort, "Instead of 'once and for all' you're gonna have to say 'twice and for all' because this once, you're not going to put an end to me!" He spoke through a voice filled with pain.

He used his free arm with the syringe and whirled around quickly and then released the syringe. He put so much speed behind it that it was like a bullet when he let go. It was so small and so fast that Wanda couldn't catch it in time, The needle plunged into her right shoulder and spewed the cellular paralysis bio-fluid into her veins.

Her powers began to wane slowly, releasing him from the pressures of her hexes. Wanda began to get woozy. Her knees buckled and then caved. She then fell out in the flooded yard. Magneto was conscious enough to see Wanda fall. So he hastily formed a metal sphere. Logan tried to stop him but Magneto only forced him back.

Storm let out another lightning strike, but Magneto had made it safely inside the sphere. Gambit tried launching a few charged cards, but that didn't help either. The sphere glided toward Wanda and Magneto took her up with him and fled.

"Hey! Give her back!" Pietro shouted. But Magneto was long gone after his last word. He wanted to go after them, but his legs and hips were still in pain from the pressure Wanda applied on him. Storm, Logan and Gambit ran over to him. "well it looks like he got away." Gambit stated before seeing a fatigued Rogue by the cliff. He immediately ran over to her aid.

Wanda had put the teleportation under some kind of spell of repeat where the energy used to teleport gave out and left her fatigue. Gambit helped her to her feet. "Thanks." She said raspy. "Anytime." he smiled at her.

Some time afterward, Jean, Bobby and Roberto regained consciousness. "What happened?" Jean asked groggily. She looked around and saw that the whole lawn was flooded by maybe nine inches. She looked around and saw the ground littered with friends and foes. She jumped to her feet when she saw Scott hurt.

Jubilee ran to Bobby; Gambit helped Rogue over to Kurt; Storm flew into the office window to aid Xavier who was just waking; Tabitha and Pinball was already helping out Roberto. Kitty Shyly walked over to Pietro who was still looking in the direction where his father escaped.

Kitty lowered her head and bit her bottom lip out of nervousness. She finally stammered out what she wanted to say. "Um, Pietro...I'm sorry you couldn't save Wanda, but you did your best." She said trying to cheer him up a little. Pietro only replied in disappointment. "If I dd my best then she'd be here right now. Apparently I didn't try hard enough."

Kitty felt really bad for him. Her eyes glistened with tears and she sounded with a woeful voice. "Well don't beat yourself up about it. You're not going to get her back that way. If anything, it sounds like you're giving up on her anyways." Pietro looked at Kitty with an intense yet sensitive look. "Why are you crying?" He asked with a bit of perplexity. "Because, maybe I could have helped more. Maybe there was something I could have done before but didn't do." She sobbed.

Pietro laid a hand on her shoulder. "None of this is your fault Pryde. If anything, I'm glad I got a chance to see what kind of person Magneto really was. And what I found out is he only has the best intentions for himself. That lets me know for sure that I don't want to be anything like him in the future." he explained calm and low without the use of sarcasm and a burlesquing attitude. That made Kitty feel a lot better.

Scott had awakened to find himself in Jean's arms. "Jean, you're okay." he said in weak felicity. "And it looks like you are too." She replied with a smile. Soon, she got a mental message from the professor. _Jean, I would like for you and Storm to clear the area of the brotherhood and the Acolytes __immediately. I have already put their minds at rest so they would remain in a comatose state for a little while longer._

Jean helped Scott to his feet before helping Storm remove the unconscious villains. Storm used her powers over the wind to sweep them all in one location. Jean used her telekinesis to gather them from the ground. She carried them down to the city's junkyard accompanied by Storm. There, they released them and left them to themselves. Except for the Juggernaut who was returned to Stokes County maximum security prison.

Now that the mansion was clear of enemies, everyone went back inside the beaten and worn down walls. They were all hurting and soaked to the bone. Even though Hank had a few injuries of his own, he still made sure everyone else was alright.

Kurt regained consciousness a little while later. "Did we win?" he asked sluggishly. "Yeah, we did." Rogue answered.

"Not yet we didn't!" Pietro said, having heard Rogue's reply. Everyone looked at him as though he was crazy. "What do ya mean we didn't win?! Those guys got pummeled tonight." Rogue protested while everyone in the background agreed. "That may be true Rogue, but that doesn't mean that Magneto is giving up.

Magneto is relentless. Trust me, I know this for a fact. He isn't going to stop until he gets what he wants. And right now, he has my sister. Who knows what other tricks he's got under his sleeve! But I know he isn't done planning. He's bound to come up with something else." Pietro explained.

Scot spoke up, "Even if he is planning something, we're going to beat him just like all the other times." Everyone agreed with his statement. Pietro began to become upset at their ignorance. But before he could say anything against Scott, the professor, who was coming down with Storm, intervened.

"I admire all of your enthusiasm Scott, but I'm afraid that Pietro is right. You see, Magnus and I knew each other for most of our lives. And one thing that I understand is, he somehow manages to get two steps ahead.

If it wasn't for Pietro's impatience, then life as we knew it would probably be over. Magnus was never the type to forgive. After all that he has faced with humanity, there may have a been a slight chance that he would have wiped them all out leaving nothing but mutants.

Over the years, Magneto has grown more and more contempt against the non-mutated humans. Each plan he devised was more deadlier than the previous. I have seen what he was capable of of. And I very well believe that he is capable of doing something horrendous such as that." Xavier explained thoroughly.

Once the professor gave his speech, Pietro turned towards the doors of the mansion and prepared to leave. _Pietro, you do know that the Xavier institute is always opened to you._ The professor reached out to him before he could speed off. _Yeah, I know_. Pietro responded, feeling really weird talking to someone in his head. _You could reside here for as long as want when you're ready._ The professor assured him. Pietro only nodded and then headed out the door.

Kitty hated to see him go, but she wasn't going to admit that to herself. Nor to anyone else. She only hoped that he would be back soon now that he was out of the brotherhood. Thinking about the brotherhood made her think on another subject. _Lance and I are like, so totally over! I don't think I have to say anything for him to figure that out._ She thought, becoming flustered.


	10. Chapter 10

Magneto relocated his lair. Wanda was still out from the paralysis solution. He banged on the wall of his new hideout. "I'm not through with you Pietro. I will succeed and there's nothing you or the X men can do to stop me." He spoke to himself in a sinister tone.

Suddenly, a woman with a swampy green hair color walked in the room. "You requested for me Mr. Magneto?" She asked with a firm voice.

"Yes, I did. I hear you are head of an organization that deals with bio-technology. HYDRA I presume." Magneto said beguilingly. "Yes, we do. Is there anything you would like for us to assist you with?" She spoke as two men walked in behind her.

"I would like for you to do something for me. Something neither of you can fail to do." Magneto spoke with a strict tone. "Anything you say. Just tell me what to do." She said evilly. "Very well, this is my proposition for you Miss." Magneto started. She interrupted, "Please Magneto sir, allow me to introduce ourselves. This here is Gauntlet." she gestured to a green-skinned mutant with a robotic eye, "This here is Omega red," She said gesturing to the Russian man in a red suit, "As for me, you can call me Viper." she grinned a sinister grin.

To be continued...

At the Boardinghouse

Storm and Jean were making their way back to the institute. The route they took led them over the boardinghouse where they saw Pietro exiting. The pair flew down to him curiously. "Are you moving back in with the brotherhood?" Storm asked with a look of concern. "Nah, I'm going back to New York City with my parents. I could care less what happens to the brotherhood." he answered nonchalant.

"Parents? I thought Magneto was, well, one of your parents." Jean said in amazement. "They're my adoptive parents. It's a long story, and a very complicated one." "You know you could always come back to the institute." Jean told him. "Yeah, that's what the bald guy said. Well anyway, I have somewhere to be." he said swiftly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Do you need a lift?" Storm asked. "Nope. My legs will get me there. So, au revoir!" With that he sped away. Jean and storm were amazed at how fast he was.

Jean was the one who broke the silence, "You know, I had no idea he had adoptive parents." "That's because he thinks he can handle himself most of the times." Storm said as a matter of fact. "How do you know that?" "Trust me, he and Evan have known each other for years and I've always seen that in him. But I never thought that he would ever come to the aid of the X men." She spoke astounded. "And I must say that it sounds like he has a _lot_ of regret in his voice."Storm added.

Storm and Jean made their way back in the air and flew back to the institution.

The Maximoff's

Marya and Django had just finished their supper and cleaned behind themselves. Marya told her husband in Russian-Slavic, "I'm going to go upstairs and draw myself a bath, dear." "okay." he replied back in Slavic.

Before she went upstairs, Marya spotted Django glancing at a picture of Wanda and Pietro when they were three years old. She blew a sigh of longing. She began pacing up the stairs when she heard a few quick knocks. She walked back down to answer the door, wondering who would be knocking in the night hours.

When she opened the door, her eyes glistened widely as she saw Pietro standing outside. Tears rolled from her eyes, and said to him in Russian-Slavic, "Pietro, my darling Pietro. I've missed you so much." He responded in Russian-Slavic as well, "I missed you too." They embraced.

Django rushed over to see what the commotion was. When he saw, he was happy to see that Pietro had come back. "Pietro!" he called out to him with felicity and threw his arms around him. "I can't believe you're back. Where's your sister? Is she still in that asylum?" All Pietro could do was lower his head with a melancholic expression.

Marya and Django didn't like the bleak expression he was wearing. Pietro exhaled a deep breath before he spoke gravely and barely audible, "She's not in the asylum anymore, but I don't know where she is." Despite his solemn tone, Mr. and Mrs. Maximoff welcomed him inside.

Marya took his backpack and set it aside. "You've gotten taller since the last time we saw you." she said, still happy to have him home. "So, where did you go?" She asked curiously. "I went to Bayville, New York and joined some other people that was just like myself. I was in a group called the brotherhood, and everything was run by my...Magneto." He prevented himself from calling Magneto his father when he figured Django was a much better father than he was.

"Magneto? But I thought..." Marya stammered a bit. Pietro finished for her, "You thought that he was dead? I know, everyone did. I have to say that I was a bit surprised to see him myself." he spoke quickly and indifferent. "So how come you're here? I thought you wanted to live with your father." She said in a bit of a daze. "I did too, but it turns out that Magneto wasn't the man I thought he was.

As a matter of fact, I figured that I had a father all along. A real father." He said, beckoning to Django. That statement made Django very happy. "And you're the best son anyone could ever ask for. I thought I had lost you both for good. I never thought that I'd hear you call me father again." A tear streamed from his eyes. "Well that's a mistake that I'll never make again, dad." Pietro smiled.

The three of them gave each other a three-way hug. "Come Pietro," Marya said, "You smell terrible. And you look exhausted." "Well actually I don't get exhausted, I just get sleepy. And right now, I'm really sleepy. And hungry, you have any food in here?" he spoke a bit happier and more like himself. His parents just giggled.

"Sure we do." Said Django. "Come on son." he said while leading him in the kitchen. Pietro spoke upon entering the kitchen."Listen, I'm sorry about the hard time I gave you both before. I guess I was in over my head , and maybe a bit ungrateful." Pietro apologized. His father smiled, "You know, I thought you looked a bit more humble. The last things you said to me was that you wished your real father was here. And I have to say that it hurt me to my heart because your mom and I raised you two as our own.

Ever since you left I couldn't stop crying. But your mom cried more than I did. We were actually considering going back to Transia and leaving you two here in New York." his father informed him. Pietro raised a brow. "You know, I've always wanted to know what made you and mom come here to New York in the first place." "Because we wanted you all to have a better life. And we wanted you to be safe away from the dangers that happened back in Transia."

Marya was already done warming his food. She sat Pietro down and placed his food before him. "I can't tell you how much I missed doing this." Marya said gleefully. "And I can't tell you how much I missed your cooking. Living in the boardinghouse was murder!" Pietro said with a comedic tone of voice. "So how long are you planning on staying?" Asked Marya. "Well, I got another offer tonight. I don't know if I'll take it up or not." "Well, take your time Pietro. Not that you've ever understood it, but it still makes me feel better to say it." "Don't worry ma, I'll _try_ to take my time. Even though I have all the time in the world." he boasted playfully. "Well I'm glad to hear you being your old self again."

Marya and Django left him to himself to attend their own affairs. Pietro ate his food quickly, all the while thinking really hard on some things he had done with his life. He regretted most of the choices he made; like being a part of a plan that would ensue in his sister's death.

He knew he was going to need some help in getting his sister back. That made him think about the offer that was given to him earlier. _After I save my sister, I'm quitting evil for good! _He thought to himself critically and crucially. _I don't know what's going to happen next, but this is a new beginning for me. And hopefully it would be for Wands too. _

* * *

I loved writing this part, but I was hoping no one would get confused and start asking questions like, where did Marya and Django come from? But I'm going to straighten out Wanda and Pietro's time line in the next story.

The reason why I brought those two in the picture was because I questioned myself, 'if everyone thought Magneto was dead in the beginning and his real mom was dead, then who in the world was he living with? Because Magneto did sound surprised at how much Pietro have grown.' (Speed & Spyke)

So then I came up with the perfect solution. For one, Erik's last name is Lehnsherr, and his children last names are Maximoff. Second, Django and Marya were the ones who named Wanda and Pietro so I figured I'd bring something new to the table. After all, this is a new beginning.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, just the idea. But please review and tell me how I did. I really need to know. Thank you.


End file.
